The road to Omaha and the College World Series begins Friday with first pitch of the 2025 NCAA Baseball Tournament. Vanderbilt locked up the No. 1 overall seed with its scalding hot finish to the regular season and run through the SEC Tournament, but rarely does the top seed roll through the bracket en route to a national championship. The betting market has its reservations about this year’s No. 1 squad as Vanderbilt, per FanDuel Sportsbook, stands in a tie for the second-best odds to win the CWS.
Arkansas is the betting favorite to hoist the national championship trophy next month at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha despite entering the tournament as the No. 3 national seed. The Razorbacks (+470) must first advance out of the regional, though, which is something they have not achieved in three years.
In anticipation of a wide-open NCAA tournament without a clear national title frontrunner, CBS Sports’ Will Backus and Carter Bahns identified the most valuable picks on the market. Following a snake draft-style selection process, the eight teams below — including two longshots — emerged as the best bets to reign supreme.
Here are their best bets to win the 2025 College World Series:
Pick 1: Texas Longhorns (+900)
Backus: Yeah, Jared Spencer is hurt and yeah, Texas got bounced from the SEC Tournament early. But this is the same Longhorns team that won a regular season title in a conference that put an NCAA-record 13 teams into the tournament. The pitching, sans Spencer, should be just fine, especially since Texas may have found a reliable third starter in southpaw Ethan Walker.
Pick 2: Arkansas Razorbacks (+470)
Bahns: Arkansas cannot seem to get out of its own way in the postseason, and skepticism is warranted after the Razorbacks got bounced from their own regional in each of the last two years. Why will 2025 be any different? It all comes down to balance. Not only does Dave Van Horn’s squad boast the nation’s 14th-highest scoring offense, but it also features a bona fide ace in transfer pitcher Zach Root and a deep, reliable bullpen. Oh, and Wehiwa Aloy looks like the best player in the country. The Hogs are deserving of the best national title odds in the land, previous tournament failures be darned.
Pick 3: Vanderbilt Commodores (+650)
Bahns: The college baseball postseason is all about getting hot at the right time, and Vanderbilt checked that box with its eight-game winning streak, which included a pair of series wins and a perfect run through the SEC Tournament. This is not Tim Corbin’s most talented Commodores team, but it is complete and playing its best baseball of the year when it matters the most. It also does not have the burden of breaking the so-called No. 1 seed curse since rival Tennessee put that to rest a year ago.
Pick 4: Tennessee Volunteers (+1200)
Backus: Tennessee, one year removed from its national title win, was on the hosting bubble after losing six of its last seven regular season series. The Vols also got run-ruled by Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament semifinal round. Tennessee has been treading water for a while, but there’s just too much talent on this squad to completely count out another run to the College World Series finals. They really need to get the bullpen figured out, though.
Pick 5: Florida State Seminoles (+2900)
Backus: Florida State boasts the potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft in pitcher Jamie Arnold and a fellow Golden Spikes semifinalist in Alex Lodise. The Seminoles lead a strong Atlantic Coast Conference in batting average and are top-25 nationally with 93 home runs on the year. There’s tons of value in Florida State’s 29-to-1 odds.
Pick 6: Georgia Bulldogs (+1200)
Bahns: Georgia did not skip a beat after Charlie Condon departed last offseason for pro ball. The Bulldogs notched the exact same pre-tournament record as a year ago and even improved in the power department. Their 133 home runs are an NCAA-best and a product of a deep lineup in which eight players crushed at least 10 round-trippers. Pitching has been a work in progress all year, but it doesn’t need to be elite if the offense rolls.
Longshot: Northeastern Huskies (+7500)
Bahns: Northeastern would be a college baseball sweetheart and one of the tournament’s biggest stories if it advances out of regional play. This is the hottest team in the country with a stunning 27-game winning streak that dates all the way back to April 9. The CAA is no power conference, but going nearly two months without a loss is a tremendous feat regardless of schedule strength. Plus, this Huskies team holds résumé-building wins over UConn, Boston College and Kansas State. They even kept things close in a 5-2 loss to a Boston Red Sox spring training squad that featured top prospects Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer.
Longshot: Alabama Crimson Tide (+7500)
Backus: Little ole Alabama, with worse odds than some mid-majors and on the same tier as programs like Northeastern. The Crimson Tide’s RPI sits at No. 13, they won 40-plus games out of the SEC and they’re very experienced, a big plus in the postseason. The lineup, anchored by stars like Justin Lebron and Kade Snell, is strong and the pitching staff has great stuff, even if the numbers don’t bear that out. Plus, it’s not like you’re betting the mortgage here. Alabama is well worth a small bid for bettors hunting a huge potential payout.
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