SEC baseball schedules were released earlier this week giving us a preview of what’s to come for the 2026 season. Here are a few thoughts I had when first looking at the schedules across the league.
Goodness gracious Mississippi State. What a schedule for Brian O’Connor in his first year in the league. The SEC is a tough conference in general and all teams are put to the test across different series, however this schedule is a gauntlet. But as someone who played for Coach Oak and knows his coaching style, I can tell you he’s the type of coach that seems to always know what buttons need to be pushed to bring out the best in his players. Sometimes that means having some trials and tribulations in the regular season, but his teams always seem to figure it out when they need to most. Not to mention I think the energy of a packed Dudy Noble is going to help, seeing as LSU, Tennessee, Georgia, Vanderbilt and Auburn will make their way to Starkville this spring. All things considered you get a wildly successful and handsome new coach, the 3rd ranked portal class in the nation, and one of the coolest places to watch baseball games? Sign me up.
Arkansas’ schedule definitely took me by surprise. They will miss LSU, Texas, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M and honestly I feel bummed about it. These huge weekend series with top teams playing each other is what fans look forward to every season, they’re a huge reason why some of these rivalries exist. Rivalry games are some of the best in college baseball, and a lot of the time that rivalry is a direct result of fans hard work to hate the rival fan base. Personally I think that should be rewarded when it comes time to put together the conference schedule. All in good fun of course but it is refreshing seeing burner accounts from different fan bases actually getting to meet each other and enjoy some good ole fashioned baseball. Baum Walker will absolutely still be packed every weekend, and I’ve got a feeling we may be seeing the Razorbacks back in Omaha in 2026.
Two teams that to me felt like they got handed a tough road schedule are Ole Miss and Oklahoma. The Rebs head to Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida, and Alabama. As a player it was always satisfying going to another school, getting heckled by their fans, and sending them home unhappy with a series loss. Being able to win on the road not only helps in the win column, but it breeds that confidence. If you can win on the road it’s a lot easier to win at home.
Oklahoma travels to LSU, Texas, Vanderbilt, Auburn and Arkansas in year two of being in the league, welcome to it. In their inaugural year of SEC baseball the Sooners really held their own, going 38-22 overall and 14-16 in conference play. Now that they have had time to adjust I’d expect to see the Sooners making waves in 2026 SOONER rather than later (get it?). They have the tenth ranked transfer portal class and had a good amount of players who absolutely balled out during summer ball so again don’t be surprised if you see this team doing big things in 2026.
LSU should be playing Texas at home. Fans were robbed of that when the schedules were released this week. They will be playing Oklahoma, Kentucky, Texas A&M, South Carolina and Florida in Baton Rouge this spring. With LSU traveling to Texas last year, I thought the league would return the favor. So as a fan I’m bummed we won’t be getting that match up this year. In 2026 the Tigers will be traveling to Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Georgia. It’s hard to imagine The Box not hosting some of those match ups, especially not having Arkansas on the schedule this spring.
Here are a few weekend series that particularly tickle my fancy looking at the 2026 SEC schedule:
March 13-15: Mississippi State at Arkansas
April 10-12: Tennessee at Mississippi State
April 10-12: Texas at Texas A&M
April 10-12: South Carolina at Missouri
April 24-26: Georgia at Ole Miss
April 24-26: Oklahoma at Auburn
May 1-3: Vanderbilt at Alabama
May 8-10: LSU at Georgia
May 8-10: Kentucky at Florida