The finale of the Sooners' climactic run to the MCWS is here

For the second time in five seasons and the 12th time overall, the Oklahoma Sooners are back in Omaha, Nebraska, for the Men's College World Series.

A little more than a month ago, the idea that Oklahoma would be one of the eight teams competing for a national championship this season in the Men's College World Series appeared highly improbable. The Sooners lost their last four SEC series and seven of their final 10 regular-season games, and then were eliminated in the opening round of the SEC Tournament by lower-seeded LSU.

But that is all behind them now. The Sooners are one of the eight teams still standing in a Men's College World Series that has more the look of a de facto SEC Tournament with five teams from the conference represented and four of them on Oklahoma's side of the bracket, which begins play in Omaha on Saturday.

Oklahoma will have to navigate through another tough SEC gauntlet to advance in MCWS

The Sooners (38-22) will open up against No. 7 Alabama (42-19) at 2 p.m. CT on Saturday. That game will be followed by No. 6 Texas and No. 3 Georgia at 6 p.m. Oklahoma is guaranteed of facing an SEC opponent in each of its first two CWS games.

The other side of the bracket starts up on Friday at Charles Schwab Stadium in Omaha with West Virginia facing Troy, both of which are making their first MCWS appearance, and No. 5 North Carolina vs. Ole Miss.

Oklahoma lost two of three to Alabama in Norman this season and is just 4-9 against the Crimson Tide in the all-time series. If the Sooners are able to get by Alabama in the first-ever postseason pairing between the two teams, they will play either Georgia or Texas. The all-time series with Georgia is tied at two apiece, with all four games taking place in 2025.

The Sooners and Longhorns, of course, are longtime rivals. Texas has long dominated Oklahoma on the baseball diamond, owning a 142-63-2 record against the Sooners. The Longhorns also swept OU this season.

After starting out the season 20-3, Oklahoma found itself going nowhere fast and having to sit and wait for nearly a full week before learning its postseason fate. But something miraculous happened during that brief time off in advance of the NCAA Tournament: Sooner baseball found some of its mojo back.

The Sooners were sent to Atlanta to go up against host Georgia Tech in the Atlanta Regional. Oklahoma was not intimidated having to go on the road against Georgia Tech, the No. 2 overall national seed, and defeated the heavily favored Yellow Jackets in back-to-back games to win the regional championship.

That sent Oklahoma to Lawrence, Kansas, for a Super Regional showdown against Big 12 champion Kansas, the No. 15 national seed. The Sooners buried the host Jayhawks with power and a couple of masterful pitching performances to earn their way to Omaha and a chance to win a third national championship.

What to know about Alabama

Alabama finished tied for fourth in the SEC this season with an 18-12 conference record. This is the Crimson Tide's second College World Series appearance. They have not won a national championship but have two runner-up finishes (1983, 1997). The Tide is 5-0 in NCAA postseason competition this season.

Alabama ranked next to last in the SEC this season with a team batting average of .258, an average of 5.0 runs per game and the third-fewest home runs in the conference with 80. The Crimson Tide's strength is in the pitching staff. Their 4.11 staff ERA was third-best in the SEC and 17th in the country. The staff is led by freshman right-hander Miles Upchurch, one of the top 10 pitchers in the conference, with a 3.57 ERA and an 8-3 record in 15 starts.

Junior shortstop Justin Lebron leads the team with 16 home runs. Only one other Alabama player has as many as 10 home runs this season. Lebron also has been successful in 40 of 41 steal attempts. As a team, the Crimson Tide has been successful on 85 of 93 stolen base attempts.

What to know about Georgia

SEC regular-season and tournament champion Georgia (51-12) is making its first CWS appearance since 2008 and its seventh in program history. The Bulldogs have one national title to their credit, in 1990. They were runner-up in 2008. They are a perfect 8-0 this postseason, including the SEC Tournament, after defeating Mississippi State in a pair of slugfests to punch their ticket to the CWS. The Dawgs enter the College World Series as winners of 19 of their last 21 games.

Georgia's .326 team batting average leads the SEC and ranks fourth-best in Division I baseball this season. Three Bulldog regulars are hitting .364 or better, led by junior catcher/outfielder Daniel Jackson with a .396 average and a team-high 31 home runs. Jackson is a finalist this season for the Golden Spikes Award. Georgia leads the nation with 174 home runs. In addition to Jackson, four other Bulldogs have 19 or more fence-clearing blasts this season.

In addition to leading the nation in home runs, Georgia ranks second in slugging percentage (628) and fourth in runs scored per game (9.4).

What to know about Texas

The first three hitters in the Texas lineup -- outfielder Aiden Robbins (.342), catcher Carson Tinney (.333) and outfielder Anthony Pack Jr. (.359), the National Freshman of the Year -- may be the most dangerous opening threesome in the country. The same trio has 57 combined home runs and 174 runs batted in.

What makes Texas so hard to beat is the Longhorns are able complement a highly productive offense with outstanding pitching. Sophomore left-hander Dylan Volantis leads the SEC with a 2.08 ERA and a 10-1 record in 15 starts, along with 126 strikeouts and just 26 walks in 88.2 innings pitched.

The Longhorns are unblemished in postseason play this season with five consecutive wins. A couple more things to keep in mind: Texas is 36-4 this season when it scores five or more runs, and 29-5 when it scores first.

What to know about Oklahoma

Oklahoma entered the postseason batting .280 as a team. In their five consecutive postseason wins to get them into this year's College World Series -- including back-to-back wins over No. 2 national seed Georgia Tech and a Super Regional series sweep over No. 15 Kansas -- the Sooners have hit. 3.39, averaging 11.8 runs per game and hitting 14 home runs.

The Sooner pitching has also been outstanding in OU's five-game postseason win streak. Coming into the postseason, Oklahoma had a staff ERA of 5.15, 11th-best in the SEC. The Sooners have used 12 different pitchers in the last five games, allowing 17 earned runs in 46 innings. That works out to an ERA of 3.33.

Oklahoma has hit 35 home runs in its last 13 games. Eleven of Deiten Lachance's team-leading 15 home runs have come in the last 16 games, and five of Dayton Tockey's eight home runs, including a game-winning walk-off home run to win the Atlanta Regional over Georgia Tech, have been in the postseason.

Prediction

Oklahoma has the second worst odds (+1800) of the eight teams still in contention for the national championship, according to FanDuel. The Sooners have bucked the odds several times in their journey to this season's Men's College World Series, and I think they will do it again in their CWS opener against Alabama. Oklahoma 8, Alabama 6

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