This article is part of our College Baseball Picks series.
College Baseball Futures Wednesday: College World Series Odds Update
Not to toot my own horn, but I feel like I've given out some fire futures plays this year. At the very least, most of these Future Wednesday articles have featured some insane CLV to this point. While I often am able to find multiple things to discuss every week, I want to focus on a more obscure team in a market that has rarely been offered since the start of the season.
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Odds To Make Omaha (The College World Series)
DraftKings had this market for the preseason and maybe like the first week or so of the season, but since then it's been a ghost everywhere. It would have been extremely interesting to follow each week, especially when you consider there could have some great buy low spots.
Ordinarily, I have not been the biggest fan of this market since its inception last year. Mostly because it's so mispriced and hard to get a good number since they are afraid to hang a liability. But I applaud the effort. In some cases, this is really nice to have because you may like a longshot that you know won't realistically win, but it allows you to have a position for them to make a run.
My preseason list consisted of Texas A&M, Tennessee, LSU, Georgia, Texas, Clemson, Virginia, UNC.
Let's look at a new team that is worth a play at their current price nine weeks into the 2025 campaign.
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers +1500
Who likes talking about obscure mid-major programs!? Each of the last three years I've had at least one ticket on a mid-major to win the whole damn thing. Whether it was Dallas Baptist, Coastal Carolina, Campbell, or Northeastern, it made things interesting. Getting an outrageous price on a squad that could create matchup problems gives you the tingles. But deep down, I knew it would be so difficult for them to actually win, especially in this new era where it's almost impossible to take down an SEC team.
With this market, though, it's much more feasible to be a final eight squad. And let me tell you about this 31-5 (9-3 in conference) Hilltopper team. There aren't many programs that can pitch like these dudes. Leading the nation in ERA (2.59) and 7th in WHIP (1.17), WKU possesses something only a small handful of teams have, and that's three legit weekend starters. That's not just a luxury, but a gigantic advantage for a tournament format this is merciless to teams with a pitching shortage.
Jack Bennett, Dawson Hall, and Drew Whalen all boast ERAs with a "1" in front of it. None of them has allowed a single home run this season. This staff gives WKU a chance to win every single time out. And they have virtually an entire staff that is nails and capable of getting the job done in any capacity. A real eye-opening moment this year was a couple of weeks ago when this team went on the road at Top 25 Dallas Baptist and shut down their high-level offense to just eight runs in a three-game set. Conference USA doesn't have a lot of firepower so the favorable schedule may give their numbers a boost, but I'll tell you there aren't many hosts that want to see these boys in their region with the amount of pitching they have. Pitching always travels better than hitting.
It's not only what they have on the mound, but the offense isn't too shabby either. To go along with the best ERA, they also have the 17th best WRC+ (147), 15th WOBA (.421), 18th best batting average (.319), and 14th in steals (86). They have a legitimate star leading the charge in CF Ryan Wideman, a JUCO transfer, who is a real contender for CUSA Player of the Year. Wideman leads the country in hits (66) and is top five in a few other categories. His outrageous .446 average, 28 steals, 28 extra-base hits, and 1.244 OPS has been the catalyst for this team all year. With a rising draft stock, this is the type of player that can go from nameless to superstar in the tournament.
Wideman isn't the only dawg in this offense. SEVEN other players are hitting .300 or better and six have an OPS of .900 or higher. There's not a ton of pop on this team (34 bops), but they rake (.319 avg) and are relentless on the bases (86 bags). An offense that can get on base a lot (.415 OBP) and cause chaos once they do is usually dangerous come June. It's definitely a pitching-first team, but the lineup should be able to do enough to help this team advance.
At the end of the day, it always comes down to the draw. But when you look at the teams that make a run, it's the programs that can pitch at least halfway decent. WKU is an interesting mid-major if the path aligns for them. We've seen a lot of the non-P5 schools struggle to make it that far, usually because most of them either can't pitch at all or can pitch somewhat and have almost no offense. This team is pretty well balanced, which is a rare thing for mid-majors. At 15/1, it's a look I would take.
Pick: WKU to make the CWS (+1500 - DK)
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