It's about to get nutty in Nebraska. The College World Series will get underway on Friday in Omaha, as the right remaining teams fight for a national championship. It's been madness to this point — only three of the top eight seeds in the tournament are still alive, and 10 of the 16 top overall seeds have been knocked out, including No. 1 overall seed Vanderbilt and No. 2 overall seed Texas.
That leaves us with a wide open field in the CWS. Here are our power rankings.
1. Arkansas Razorbacks (43-13)
The highest-rated seed remaining in the tournament, Arkansas is here to mash. They have hit 124 home runs this season, the most of any team remaining in the field.
Not only do they crush home runs, but their pitchers hit their spots better than anyone; Arkansas leads the country in strikeout-to-walk ratio, meaning patience from opposing batters won't do much good. The defense is great, the pitching is great and the offense is explosive. The pigs will be a tough out.
2. LSU Tigers (43-14)
Pitchers Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson understandably get a lot of the attention for this team. Anderson might be the top pick in this year's MLB Draft after throwing 163 strikeouts in 103 innings this year. Eyanson wasn't too far behind him with 142 strikeouts in 98.2 innings. Combined, they're a silly 21-3.
But it's taken a team effort to get here and the Tigers offense has a .928 team OPS. There are no breaks in this batting order for opponents.
3. Oregon State Beavers (47-14-1)
The Beavs aren't afraid to play small ball — they bunted their opponents to death in the regional, and were near the top of the country in walks drawn.
Projected first-round pick Aiva Arquette and outfielder Gavin Turley power this beavers offense (37 combined home runs this season) but there's pop all the way down the lineup, as the Beavs hit 103 home runs as a team this year.
4. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (53-11)
The Chanticleers might play in a smaller conference than most of their fellow CWS attendees, but sleeping on the Sun Belt would not be wise. This team handled No. 4-seeded Auburn in the Super Regionals and boasts one of the best pitching staffs in the country with a 3.21 team ERA and just 7.5 hits allowed per nine innings.
Check out the College World Series bracket here before things get started in Omaha later this week.
5. UCLA Bruins (47-16)
Roch Cholowsky makes the offense go for the Bruins. The sophomore hit 23 home runs this year, walked more than he struck out and OPS'd well over 1.200.
As a team, they're super sharp defensively and get on base often. Nothing really jumps off the page about the Bruins, but they're strong everywhere and that's helped them get back to their first CWS in 12 years.
6. Arizona Wildcats (44-19)
It was not a cakewalk for Arizona in the Super Regional for the Wildcats, who trailed 3-2 in the eighth inning of Game 3 in their Super Regional vs. North Carolina. But stars come through when they're called upon, and Mason White is this team's star. His two-run knock was enough to send UA to the CWS, where they'll take on another Carolina team... this one of the Coastal variety.
7. Louisville Cardinals (40-22)
Pitching hasn't been Louisville's strong suit this year (5.05 team ERA) but a 3-2 pitching duel over top-seeded Vanderbilt got them to the Regional Final, and then two shutdown wins over Miami launched them into the CWS.
The Cardinals hit for average (.305 team BA) and for power (83 home runs) but do they have the firepower to hang with the top teams in the CWS?
8. Murray State Racers (42-14)
Racer Nation, stand up! Murray State is headed to its first-ever College World Series after upsetting Duke on Monday night to claim the final spot in the field of eight. Jonathan Hogart, as he does, started things off with a leadoff homerun, and it was smooth sailing (not really) for the Racers the rest of the way. Then in the deciding game on Monday, he — as he does — hit two more home runs in a game the Racers won by one run. Monster.
They might be underdogs in the CWS, but they were underdogs in the Regional and Super Regional too, so counting them out now would be foolish. Let the miracle run continue!