Where does LSU baseball rank in the first Coaches Poll of 2026?

Opening day of the 2026 college baseball season is less than two weeks away, and yet again, LSU baseball finds itself in the driver’s seat.

USA Today released its first Coaches Poll rankings of the season on Tuesday, and the Tigers are right where they left off back in June: No. 1. Coming off the eighth CWS title in program history, LSU enters the 2026 season as the team to beat once again.

The Tigers are aiming to become the first back-to-back champions in the sport in over a decade. LSU lost a significant chunk of production from the 2025 squad, but the college baseball world isn't doubting Jay Johnson's program.

The Tigers lead the way in both total points (733) and first-place votes (724) in the polling, which assigns points based on each team's ranking in each poll (a first-place vote is worth 25, second-place 24, and so on down to one point for 25th). UCLA is close behind in both categories, with 724 points and 14 first-place votes.

These rankings aren’t a perfect predictor of how teams’ seasons will unfold, but they’re a strong baseline. In both of the Tigers’ championship-winning seasons in the past decade, they ranked in the Top 3 of that year’s initial Coaches’ Poll. It’s not a perfect science, but LSU appears to be gearing up for another run at a title.

This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: Where does LSU baseball rank in the first Coaches Poll of 2026?