Baseball season is here. Mississippi State baseball begins the season Friday afternoon at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville, opening the 2026 campaign and the Brian O'Connor-era against Hofstra. And the Diamond Dawgs are entering the year in the sport's upper-echilon according to national media.
Mississippi State is a consensus Top 6 team in preseason rankings
College baseball has several Top 25 polls to rank teams, which can certainly lead to a wide range of opinions on various teams. But there's a consensus opinion on Mississippi State baseball amongst the five biggest polls, as each view the Diamond Dawgs as one of the six best teams in the country.
How the 2026 Preseason Polls Stack Up
— SEC Baseball (@SECbaseball) February 9, 2026
- 13 total SEC teams receive a preseason ranking
- 9 ranked across all five polls
- 6 get a top five nod pic.twitter.com/xqcQaTjDR3
Baseball America is the highest on the Diamond Dawgs, ranking them No. 3 behind just UCLA and LSU. D1 Baseball has State No. 4 while Perfect Game, the National College Baseball Writers Association, and the USA Today Coaches Poll all have them No. 6.
Mississippi State is one of six SEC teams to receive at least one Top 5 ranking amongst the five polls. LSU is the lone consensus Top 5 team in the league, ranking either No. 1 or No. 2 in each poll. Texas and Arkansas each made the Top 5 in three polls while Tennessee and Auburn each made one appearance. Nine different SEC teams enter the season as consensus Top 25 teams with 13 appearing in at least one poll.
D1 Baseball predicts Mississippi State as No. 4 national seed in NCAA Tournament
D1 Baseball released their preseason NCAA Tournament projections, and in alignment with their preseason rankings, they slot Mississippi State as the No. 4 national seed. Yes, Kendall Rogers believes the Dawgs will host. D1 has the Starkville Regional paired with the Gainesville Regional, hosted by No. 13 Florida. And they project an incredibly interesting bracket at Dudy Noble.
D1's 2-seed in Starkville is none other than Virginia, Brian O'Connor's old squad. The storylines there would be fantastic. The overall regional projection isn't easy, either. At the 3-seed is historic power and now ascendant program Arizona State. 4-seed Fairfield has been a force in the MAAC for several years.
That would be a tough draw. There's not a pushover in that regional. But regardless of potential opponents, the belief entering the 2026 season is that there will be postseason baseball played in Starkville for the first time in five years, and that should be the expectation for this squad.