College World Series 2021: Championship Bracket and Predictions
Championship baseball is back at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska.
While there was no College World Series last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's eight-team field has a bit of everything.
There is 2019 champion Vanderbilt and the looming possibility of a rivalry showdown for the title with Tennessee on the other side of the bracket. There is an offensive juggernaut in Arizona, as well as top-10 teams in Texas, Mississippi State and Stanford.
There are also Cinderella stories with Virginia and North Carolina State, especially after the latter upset top-seeded Arkansas to reach the College World Series.
The games start Saturday, and here is a look at the schedule and bracket information.
Schedule
The schedule is courtesy of NCAA.com.
Saturday, June 19
- Game 1: Stanford vs. NC State | 2 p.m. ET | ESPN
- Game 2: Vanderbilt vs. Arizona | 7 p.m. | ESPN
Sunday, June 20
- Game 3: Tennessee vs. Virginia | 2 p.m. | ESPN2
- Game 4: Texas vs. Mississippi State | 7 p.m. | ESPN2
Monday, June 21
- Game 5: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser | 2 p.m. | ESPNU
- Game 6: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner | 7 p.m. | ESPN
Tuesday, June 22
- Game 7: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser | 2 p.m. | ESPNU
- Game 8: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner | 7 p.m. | ESPN2
Wednesday, June 23
- Game 9: 7 p.m. | ESPN
Thursday, June 24
- Game 10: 7 p.m. | ESPN2
Friday, June 25
- Game 11: 2 p.m. | ESPN2
- Game 12: 7 p.m. | ESPN
Saturday, June 26
- Game 13: 2 p.m. | ESPN (if necessary)
- Game 14: 7 p.m. | ESPN2 (if necessary)
CWS Finals (Best-of-3 series)
- Game 1: 7 p.m. | Monday, June 28 | ESPN2
- Game 2: 7 p.m. | Tuesday, June 29 | ESPN
- Game 3: 7 p.m. | Wednesday, June 30 | ESPN2 (if necessary)
Bracket
The bracket can be found here.
One side of the bracket consists of Stanford, North Carolina State, Arizona and Vanderbilt, while the other contains Texas, Mississippi State, Virginia and Tennessee.
The winners of the two double-elimination brackets will face each other in a best-of-three championship series. Whoever wins that series is the 2021 NCAA champion.
Championship Prediction
Look for pitching to provide the blueprint for a championship.
The thought here is Texas will ride its formidable rotation of Ty Madden, Tristan Stevens and Pete Hansen to make it out of one side of the bracket. However, the Longhorns will come up short when they reach the final series and square off with the dominant Vanderbilt duo of Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker.
Leiter has a 2.16 ERA, 156 strikeouts and .127 batting average against in 96 innings, while Rocker sports a 2.46 ERA, 155 strikeouts and .157 batting average against in 106 innings.
The tandem can take over a series, and it will be quite the daunting task for the other teams to combine to beat the Commodores twice to eliminate them before the final series given the presence of two legitimate aces.
Throw in an offense featuring Isaiah Thomas, Dominic Keegan and Enrique Bradfield Jr. and the managerial experience of Tim Corbin, who led the Commodores to two national championships in the last seven seasons, and Vanderbilt is going to emerge from a loaded field.
The championship will stay in Nashville, Tennessee.