2021 NCAA Baseball Tournament College World Series: Dates, TV Channels, Schedule and Odds
The college baseball season comes to a boil over the next two weeks, with the eight teams left in the NCAA Division I tournament battling it out in the College World Series.
Since 1950, the honor of hosting the final phase of the tournament has been bestowed on Omaha, Nebraska. TD Ameritrade Park will host the CWS for the 10th time this month—after last year's tournament was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The CWS gets underway on Saturday, June 19, with two games every day through Tuesday, June 22.
The eight teams who progressed from the Super Regionals phase have been split into two brackets, with the two winners advancing to a best-of-three championship series that begins on June 28.
Here's everything you need to know to keep up with the action.
Which teams are in the College World Series?
Four of the top five national seeds have qualified for the CWS, with Arkansas being the notable exception.
The Razorbacks entered the NCAA baseball tournament as the No. 1 seed but lost 2-1 in the Super Regional phase against North Carolina State, one of the two non-ranked teams to have made it through to Omaha.
Virginia are the other unseeded team in the CWS, after they defeated Dallas Baptist University 2-1.
Texas, the No. 2 seed, qualified for the World Series by beating South Florida 2-0. Tennessee, seeded third, defeated LSU 2-0 in the Super Regional.
Vanderbilt, No. 4, and Arizona, No. 5, reached the CWS after defeating East Carolina 2-0 and Ole Miss 2-1 respectively. The ninth seed, Stanford, upset No. 8 Texas Tech 2-0.
Mississippi State, ranked No. 7, completes the draw after progressing to the CWS with a 2-1 win over the No. 10 seed Notre Dame in the Super Regional.
How to watch College World Series on TV
The tournament is televised across the ESPN networks, with Monday's games broadcast on ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPNU.
How to watch College World Series online
Every game can be live-streamed via WatchESPN, while selected games are also available via fuboTV.
College World Series format
The College World Series will be contested via a pair of four-team double-elimination brackets.
Bracket 1 is Vanderbilt, Arizona, Stanford and North Carolina State. Bracket 2 is Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi State and Virginia.
College World Series TV schedule
(All times ET, number in bracket denotes team's seed)
Saturday, June 19
- Game 1: North Carolina State vs (9) Stanford
2 p.m., ESPN - Game 2: (5) Arizona vs. (4) Vanderbilt
7 p.m., ESPN
Sunday, June 20
- Game 3: Virginia vs. (3) Tennessee
2 p.m., ESPN2 - Game 4: (2) Texas vs. (7) Mississippi State
7 p.m., ESPN2
Monday, June 21
- Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
2 p.m., ESPNU - Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
7 p.m., ESPN
Tuesday, June 22
- Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4
2 p.m., ESPNU - Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4
7 p.m., ESPN
College World Series odds
Vanderbilt enters the CWS as the team to beat in the eyes of the bookmakers, closely followed by Texas and Tennessee. Still the reigning champion after victory in 2019, Vanderbilt is an 11-4 favorite with DraftKings, while Texas is at 10-3 and Tennesse at 7-2.
Arizona follows at 6-1, then Mississippi State at 13-2, while Stanford is an 8-1 outsider. Virginia and North Carolina State, the two unranked teams, are 10-1 and 12-1 long shots respectively.
