2023 Men's College World Series Picks: TCU Horned Frogs, LSU Tigers
Betting on the 2023 Men's College World Series is a brand-new thing for me. Honestly, gambling on college baseball feels new-ish in the sports betting space. Last year, Twitter sports handicappers were all about the college World Series.
For me, it's never really been a consideration until joining OutKick. We have a ton of readers in the south and they love their college sports. College football is a religion and college baseball is apparently picking up steam.
With that in mind, I'm going to deep my toe into the college baseball betting waters. Again, I'm just keeping it real with y'all: This is my first time handicapping Men's College World Series (MCWS). First, let's look at the ...
Men's College World Series 2023 Odds
Betting odds for the 2023 Men's College World Series from DraftKings as of Tuesday, June 15 at 2 p.m. ET.
Omaha, Nebraska is the long-time home of the College World Series. Oral Roberts Golden Eagles vs. the TCU Horned Frogs in the first of two brackets kickoff the MCWS Friday, June 16 at 2 p.m. ET in Omaha.
The 2-seed Florida Gators and Virginia Cavaliers, also from Bracket 1, play later Friday. The Bracket 2 games begin Saturday, June 17 with the Stanford Cardinal vs. 1-seed Wake Forest Demon Deacons followed by Tennessee Volunteers vs. 5-seed LSU Tigers.
Both brackets play a double elimination tournament from June 16-22 (if necessary). Then the winner of each bracket meet in a 3-game MCWS finals starting June 24 with the final championship game slated for Monday, June 26 if necessary.
I'm going with a buck-shot approach to betting the MCWS. Instead of just backing one team, I'll take one from each bracket since I'm not as locked into the ins and outs of college baseball as some of my gambling constituents.
MCWS 2023 Bracket 1
Florida is best regular-season team in this region. Oral Roberts from the Summit League is the Cinderella story. Virginia is the best hitting team in the country and TCU is the hottest coming into the MCWS.
The Horned Frogs are undefeated in postseason play with nine straight victories. They cruised through the Big XII Conference Tournament as a 4-seed, winning all four games by a combined 48-15.
Then TCU won its three Fayetteville Regional games by a combined score of 44-13 before sweeping the 14-seed Indiana State Sycamores in the Fort Worth Super Regional.
TCU IF Brayden Taylor reacts after hitting a 2-run home run against Vanderbilt in the sixth inning at Globe Life Field. (Chris Jones-USA TODAY Sports)
Horned Frogs 3B Brendan Taylor is expected to go in the first round of the upcoming 2023 MLB Draft. Taylor is one of three TCU hitters that have a 1.000+ OPS with the others being 1B Cole Fontenelle and SS Anthony Silva.
I like the hot-hand angle especially when it comes to baseball. We saw the Atlanta Braves get hot at the right time when they won the 2021 World Series. The Ole Miss Rebels won the 2022 MCWS as a 100-to-1 pre-tournament.
BET: TCU Horned Frogs (+800) to win the 2023 MCWS at DraftKings
Men's College World Series 2023 Bracket 2
By all accounts, the SEC is the best baseball conference in college and Bracket 1 has two SEC schools. Not to mention Wake Forest who was the No. 1 overall seed entering the NCAA Division I baseball tourney.
Crews has the highest on-base percentage (.576 OBP) of any baseball player from a Power 5 school. Skenes has the best ERA (1.77 ERA) of any Power 5 pitcher with an outrageous 188/18 K/BB rate.
LSU Tigers OF Dylan Crews during the 2023 SEC Baseball Tournament vs. the South Carolina Gamecocks at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama. (Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
To put that into context, Skenes' 10.4 K/BB rate that would be second in the MLB among qualified starters behind Seattle Mariners RHP George Kirby's 11.8 and Mariners RHP Logan Gilbert is third at 6.2.