Louisville Cracks in Baseball America's Way-Too-Early 2026 Top 25

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After missing out on the NCAA Tournament in both 2023 and 2024, the 2025 season was a bounce back year in many ways for the Louisville baseball program. Not only did they get back to the Big Dance, they made it all the way back to Omaha for the Collew World Series.

Now, expectations for the Cardinals are back to being what they usually are under head coach Dan McDonnell.

Earlier this week, Baseball America released their 'Way Too Early' Top 25 Rankings for the 2026 season, and Louisville was able to crack the list at No. 20. They're one of seven ACC teams to make the cut, joining Georgia Tech, Virginia, Florida State, North Carolina, Miami, Clemson. UCLA, LSU, Texas, Mississippi State and Auburn round out the top five.

"It’s hard to not get excited and dream on the Cardinals’ upside, and 2026 has the chance to be a special season," Baseball America's Jacob Rudner and Peter Flaherty wrote.

While the Cardinals certainly lost a fair amount of talent to graduation and the MLB Draft, they figure to be a loaded squad in 2026, primarily thanks to their group of position players. All-American outfielder Lucas Moore, First-Team All-ACC outfielder Zion Rose, Freshman All-American first baseman Tague Davis and leadoff hitter Alex Alicea all return, and the Cardinals added some good depth via the portal.

Additionally, they have a good core of pitchers to back them up. Returning left-hander Ethan Eberle, transfer right-hander Jake Bean and returning righty Peter Michael has potential to be a good starting rotation, not to mention that bullpen arms like lefty Wyatt Danilowicz and righty Jake Schweitzer also return.

Louisville went 42-24 this past season in what was head coach Dan McDonnell's 19th year in charge, clinching their sixth trip to the CWS in program history, and first since 2019.

More Cardinals Stories