Tiger Baseball Consensus No. 1

12 days till first pitch

We’re less than a fortnight away from the start of the 2023 college baseball season and your Fightin’ Tigers of LSU are the No. 1 team in all eight of the nationally recognized polls.

Every year the expectation around these parts for LSU can be summed up in one word: Omaha. And this year making it to Omaha doesn’t just feel like the expectation it feels almost like a demand.

This might be the most talented team in LSU history. It’ll probably be the best team Jay Johnson fields in his tenure at LSU (and if he does have a more talented team down the road holy moly). The Tigers have the No. 1 recruiting class coming in. They also had the top transfer class. Oh, and they have the likely No. 1 overall pick in this summer’s draft, Dylan Crews, playing centerfield. This team is loaded with an embarrassment of riches and as much as I hate to say it: they’d better end up playing at whatever they’re calling Omaha (Charles Schwab Field? Gross.) in June.

It’s been five years since LSU’s been to the College World Series. While five years is acceptable at most programs, it may as well be 50 at a place like LSU. Add in the fact that four of the last five national champs have come out of the SEC—one at LSU’s expense—and the pressure is on Jay Johnson to make it back to LSU North.

The season begins next Friday, February 17, against Western Michigan.