So the College World Series starts this weekend in Omaha, so I thought I'd throw out a quick summary of the teams, as well as any players to look out for if you are watching.

There are two brackets, which have a double elimination format to determine who comes out of the bracket, and the two winners face each other in a best of three series. The double elimination format keeps teams in the tourney longer and provides interesting matchups, though it is really hard to win from the losers bracket, as it requires at least one extra game to play. Since most college teams are

Bracket 1 (first games are mentioned):  Miami, Georgia, Stanford, Florida St

Miami (#1 National Seed) vs Georgia (#8 National Seed)

Miami is a crazy good ballclub and has been in the top two or three in the rankings pretty much all season long. They have a very solid lineup, led by 1st round picks Yonder Alonso and Jemile Weeks (you should watch them play just to see how Weeks is the opposite of the type of player you'd expect Oakland to draft). Their pitching staff is very good as well, with Carlos Gutierrez (a surprise 1st round pick by the Twins) as their closer, but the guy to watch is freshman starter Chris Hernandez. He looks like he has a long career ahead of him

Georgia is probably lucky to be this far. They have a good team, but they got here by being in an easy regional (which they almost lost), and facing a good but not great NC State club (which they again almost lost). Gordan Beckham (white Beckham) was the ChiSox's first pick (#8 I believe), and is the best player on this team.

Stanford vs Florida State (#4 National Seed)

Florida St. has probably the most potent lineup in the tournament. Keep your eyes open for Buster Posey, the 5th pick in the draft by the Giants (who is most likely responsible for Smoak falling to us). He's going for the division I triple crown, sporting a ridiculous line of .468/.572/.897 going into last weekend. Watch for freshman John Gast (one of the two picks last year that Texas failed to sign) to pitch in one of the middle games if they have to use a lot of arms.

Stanford wasn't really expected to make it this far, but won a tough home regional and took out national seed Cal St. Fullerton. Jason Castro (10th pick by the Astros) was considered a big reach at that spot, but he's a very good catcher who would probably be the first catcher taken in most years.

Prediction: Florida St. wins the bracket over Miami

Bracket 2 (first games) - UNC, LSU, Fresno St, Rice - This is definitely the weaker bracket

North Carolina (#2 National Seed) vs LSU (#7 National Seed)

UNC has been runner up in Omaha the last two years, but fortunately for them their nemesis Oregon St didn't make the tourney at all. UNC is all about pitching, including Matt Harvey, an unsigned Angels draft pick. Rob Wooten is their excellent closer, who will probably pitch in every game next week. He's probably thrown about 200 games in his college career, which is probably why he wasn't drafted until late.

LSU I don't know much about them, other than the fact that they played 3 football games against Irvine last week (scores: 5-11, 9-7, 21-7). This suggests that their offense is a lot better than their good, but not great, numbers suggest. Their pitching doesn't look spectacular either. But the team is really hot right now, and that goes a long way in these sorts of matchups. One thing to look for is that LSU always has a huge home field advantage. They won't have that in Omaha

Fresno St vs Rice (#6 National Seed)

Fresno St is the Cinderella story of the year – they were a #4 seed in a regional where the other three teams were legitimate title contenders. They then knocked off Arizona St, who I actually thought was going to win the whole thing. They aren't a great team, but obviously the baseball gods are smiling on them now. Sadly Tanner Scheppers won't be pitching, otherwise they'd have a real shot to win a few in Omaha.

Rice is back for the 3rd straight year (same as UNC). They aren't as good as years past – their pitching is deep as usual but lacks the dominant arms of years past (Savery, Niemman, Humber). Even Bryan Price (a supplemental 1st pick by Boston) is erratic though has great stuff. Bobby Bell is fun to watch pitch though (devastating changeup) and I believe is from my childhood home of Aledo. Their offense also lacks huge firepower, but everyone can hit pretty well. Definitely a whole is greater than the sum of its parts team.

Prediction: UNC over Rice (sadly).

Overall prediction: Florida St. over UNC. While pitching usually wins in Omaha, the FSU bats are just too big to hold back in that ballpark.

Ranger draft picks to watch for:

#16 Justin Miller at Fresno St- he looks like their #3 starter, so he may not get to pitch, but look for him on Wednesday or so if they make it that far.

#17 Dennis Guinn – FSU's senior 1bman. He has very good numbers in that great lineup. Should be fun to watch

#20 Mike Hollander – LSU's senior shortstop third baseman.

Go Rice Owls!

Update: I added a poll because it seems like every team has some fans out there in LSB land.