Dylan Widger-Imagn Images
By Hunt Palmer
The Road back to Omaha was released Tuesday.
LSU dropped its 2026 baseball schedule in conjunction with the rest of the league now that the conference has announced its 10-weekend gauntlet.
LSU returns four position player mainstays from the title team in Derek Curiel, Jake Brown, Chris Stanfield and Steven Milam. Key arms like Casan Evans, Zac Cowan and Mavrick Rizy also return among others.
The Tigers will be favorites to make another deep postseason push, but it all starts with the 56 regular season games that we now have laid out.
Here are three things that popped to me upon review.
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WHO’S MISSING
Every SEC team misses five league opponents. LSU will not play Arkansas, Texas, Auburn, Alabama and Missouri.
There are few certainties this time of year in college baseball, but missing out on three games against Missouri is a negative. It’s the worst program in the league, and getting swept nine times in 2025 furthers that assertion.
On the flip side, Arkansas is always good. Texas should be loaded under Jim Schlossnagle in year two, and Auburn’s freshman class was sensational in 2025. The Plainsmen should be stout in 2026. Alabama is a wild card that is likely a middle-of-the-pack finisher.
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MAKE HAY AT HOME
LSU’s home draw looks favorable. The Tigers get Oklahoma, Kentucky, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Florida at home.
Oklahoma is replacing its entire weekend rotation including Kyson Witherspoon who was the 15th pick in the MLB Draft. Kentucky is generally low on elite talent. Paul Mainieri went nuts in the transfer portal, but I’ll need to see big improvement from that program before I believe in it.
Texas A&M loses Jace LaViolettte, Kaeden Kent, Hayden Schott, Ryan Prager and Justin Lamkin. Yes, Gavin Grahovac and Caden Sorrell are stars in the lineup, but Michael Earley was fortunate to get a mulligan after an atrocious first season as head coach.
Florida hasn’t really found itself the last two years. Their combined record in league games since LSU beat them in the 2023 title series is 28-32
Considering trips to Knoxville, Starkville and Athens (we’ll see about Oxford and Nashville) don’t figure to be very forgiving, handling business at home against programs that could be vulnerable is going to be crucial.
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EARLY AND OFTEN
As is generally the case, LSU has loaded the early schedule with games. The Tigers will play nine games in the first 13 days of the season, including four as a wrap-around first weekend. The first 20 days feature 14 games. That’s a ton of innings on the mound and lots of opportunities to look at different players in the lineup.
The opponents won’t grab headlines like midweek matchups with Texas and Dallas Baptist have over the last three years.
Northeastern is a proud program that has churned players into the professional ranks at an impressive clip. They have not made their gaudy regular season win totals stand up in the NCAA tournament, but they’ll have talent.
LSU plays the Huskies twice in the third weekend. Creighton won 43 games last year and made the Fayetteville Regional final. They’ll visit The Box in the final pre-conference game.
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