Stanford Baseball Ranked No. 8 in ACC

Could we see the Cardinal go back to Omaha?

Stanford's head baseball coach David Esquer, center, stands in the dugout during game two of their non-conference baseball series against Texas Tech, Tuesday, April 2, 2024, at Rip Griffin Park. / Annie Rice/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

After missing out on the College World Series in 2024 following trips to the tournament for three straight years, the Stanford Cardinal will come back with vengeance in 2025, eager to return to the promised land in Omaha, Nebraska. With the season nearing, preseason polls have started to come out, with one of the biggest ones being the ACC rankings.

Heading into their first season in the new conference, the Cardinal were picked to finish eighth in the ACC by the coaches. Ahead of them is NC State, Wake Forest, Duke, Clemson, North Carolina, Florida State and Virginia. Virginia, who was one of four ACC teams to reach Omaha last year, was picked as the favorite to win the conference.

After Stanford, who received 143 points in the vote, Louisville and Georgia Tech complete the top-10 projected teams.

Cal, Stanford head coach David Esquer's former team, was projected to finish 13th in the conference. Out of the 16 ACC teams, seven of them enter 2025 ranked in the top 25 by both Baseball America and D1Baseball.

Virginia is ranked at No. 2 by D1 and No. 5 by Baseball America, while Clemson, Duke, Florida State, NC State, UNC and Wake Forest also come in ranked by both outlets.

After winning the Pac-12 in both 2022 and 2023, the Cardinal struggled mightily last season, finishing 22-33 and finishing below .500 in a full season for the first time since 2015.

However, with the addition of many talented players, most notably having Japanese phenom Rintaro Sasaki available to play this year, the Cardinal are eager to make noise and are looking to be a surprise team in the ACC and finish near the top of the standings.

The season begins in only a few weeks for the Cardinal, who will begin the campaign with a four-game series against Cal-State Fullerton on Feb. 14. Hitting the road, the first game is slated to begin at 6:35 p.m. at Goodwin Field.