Column: 'Twas the Day Before Baseball. Can Ole Miss Shake Omaha Curse?
Excitement and angst provide the proverbial yin-and-yang of emotions among Ole Miss baseball fans entering the 2022 season.
For the more optimistic crowd, the Rebels appear to have another strong team on paper, especially in its batting lineup. For the pessimist, this strong team sets up for an inevitable postseason collapse that has become synonymous with the Rebels in recent years.
Those are the two extremes on the spectrum, and some find themselves in the middle, but if Ole Miss is to put the negative side of the spectrum to rest this season, a trip to Omaha is likely necessary.
Last season was what it was. The Rebels made the best of a less-than-ideal injury situation and came one game away from the College World Series. Still, that's another year where they are one game away, and some fans have grown tired with that development regardless of the extenuating circumstances.
I'd argue that there is still some carryover from these emotions that stems all the way back to the mid-2000s. Names like Drew Pomeranz and Lance Lynn never reached Omaha in their time in Oxford, and the Rebels' lone CWS appearance in the super regional era of college baseball came when they were not a national seed.
Maybe that's relevant, but wherever the postseason leads the Rebels, this is a season of utmost importance in the minds of many fans. "Omaha or bust" is the mantra for them, and that's a lot of pressure in the middle of February before the season has even begun.
Some of that is outside of Ole Miss' control, by the way. The expectation of reaching Omaha has been exacerbated by division and conference rivals making routine trips to the CWS in recent seasons, including Mississippi State winning the national championship in 2021. Ole Miss fans ask, and possibly rightly so, "If we can be this successful in the regular season, why can't we make it to Omaha like the rest of the top programs?"
Make no mistake, Ole Miss is one of the top programs in the country as far as win totals are concerned. The Rebels have won 40 or more games eight times in Mike Bianco's tenure in Oxford. They've hosted 10 regionals, and they've won seven of them.
Out of those seven, however, only one super regional win has been amassed.
If Ole Miss is to break that narrative, only one thing is a solution: winning a super regional, regardless of location, and making it to Omaha.
There's a long way to go before postseason pictures are discussed, however. For now, the Rebels have to focus on simply winning games, and the seeding will take care of itself.
That path begins on Friday against Charleston Southern, and by the time this journey is finished in 2022, the narrative surrounding Ole Miss' postseason appearances will either solidify further or be shattered.
So, 'twas the day before baseball, and all through the house, excitement and angst were circling about. Which emotion will be realized this season?
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