The Michigan baseball program hasn't made the NCAA Tournament since 2022, a streak the Wolverines were hoping to end this season.
Michigan was projected as one of the last four teams in the field starting the week, according to D1 Baseball. Michigan opened the Big Ten Tournament with a 10-0 win over Rutgers. U-M followed that up with a loss to Washington before beating Ohio State to advance to the quarterfinals.
Nebraska eliminated Michigan baseball from the tournament early Saturday morning, in a 6-4 loss. Looking back, the Wolverines might have needed to win that game to reach the NCAA Tournament, at least according to the latest bracket projections from D1 Baseball.
The May 23rd projections have Michigan projected out of the 2026 NCAA Tournament. The Wolverines aren't even listed among the last four teams out. They are among the next four teams to watch, so if that's accurate, it's not promising for Michigan's hopes of getting selected.
Michigan baseball's resume "checks a lot of boxes"
Michael Huff, a baseball analyst for the Big Ten Network, said that Michigan's resume, "checks a lot of boxes" on Saturday, but we'll have to wait and see if the NCAA Tournament selection committee agrees.
The resume checks a lot of boxes ✅@mkhuff12 offers his thoughts on @umichbaseball's case for the NCAA tourney 👇 pic.twitter.com/KaDJcCAwSJ
— Big Ten Baseball (@B1Gbaseball) May 24, 2026
"Michigan has a nice resume. It checks a lot of boxes, the only thing that is maybe hurting them right now in the RPI," Huff said.
Michigan has an RPI of 53. The Wolverines did win seven of their 10 Big Ten series. One of those was against Oregon, which advanced to the Big Ten championship game on Saturday. The Wolverines have beaten Nebraska, a team expected to host a regional, and Louisville.
There were some bad losses down the stretch, though. Leading into the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan lost four straight games, including a home game to Kent State. The Wolverines were also swept by Ohio State at home. The Buckeyes aren't an NCAA Tournament team, but they won in Ann Arbor by a combined score of 28-6.
If Michigan does end up missing the NCAA Tournament, that four-game stretch will be why. Tracy Smith has performed better in season four, boasting a 34-24 record. Yet, the Wolverines have failed to reach the NCAA Tournament in each of his first three seasons as head coach.
If Michigan doesn't make it again, the seat could get hot for Smith, who is in charge of a program that reached the National Championship Game back in 2019, in addition to winning Big Ten Tournament titles in 2019 and 2022.
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