National Outlet Bullish on Louisville's Outlook for 2026 Season

Following a few down years by their lofty standards, the Louisville baseball program saw a return to form during their 2025 season. The Cardinals went 42-24 overall and 15-15 in ACC play in year 19 under head coach Dan McDonnell, reaching the College World Series for the sixth time in program history and first time since 2019.

Coming off of a year that catapulted them back into the national spotlight, it's crucial for Louisville to maintain this momentum if they are to revert back to powerhouse-status like they were in the 2010's. Fortunately, a prominent national outlet believes that 2025 wasn't simply a flash in the pan, and that UofL will be force to be reckoned with for 2026.

Earlier this week, the folks at D1Baseball's Aaron Fitt released his 2025 Fall Report for the Cardinals after spending an extended amount of time around them during their fall exhibitions. He came away from this holding Louisville in extremely high regard for next season.

"As Louisville’s fall slate winds down, it has become very apparent that it’s time to crank up the hype machine for these Cardinals, whether they like it or not," Fitt wrote. "The fact is, they are far too good to fly under the radar heading into 2026."

Fitt isn't off-base regarding his sentiment. While the Cardinals certainly lost a fair amount of talent to graduation and the MLB Draft, they figure to be a loaded squad in 2026. Primarily, this is thanks to the fact that they return four extremely talented position players: All-American outfielder Lucas Moore, First-Team All-ACC outfielder Zion Rose, Freshman All-American first baseman Tague Davis and leadoff hitter Alex Alicea.

"Good luck finding a better quartet of returning players to build around than Louisville’s core four," Fitt wrote.

The Cardinals also added some good in the field depth via both the portal and JUCO route. Ohio transfer outfielder Ben Slanker has shined this fall, as have JUCO pickups catcher Jimmy Nugent and infielder Jax Hisle.

Additionally, they have a good core of pitchers to back them up. Returning left-hander Ethan Eberle, transfer right-hander Jake Bean and returning righty Peter Michael has potential to be a good starting rotation, not to mention that bullpen arms like leftyies Wyatt Danilowicz T.J. Schlageter plus righty Jake Schweitzer also return.

Put it all together, and Fitt love the balance that Louisville has at the plate and on the mound, and believes they have the depth to contend for a national championship.

"If those young arms continue to progress as expected under the tutelage of longtime pitching coach Williams, this could wind up being a vintage Louisville team — a bona fide ACC title contender and even a leading national title contender.

"So while the Cards might want you to think that nobody is paying attention to them, they’ll have a hard time avoiding the spotlight as a potential top-10 team in the preseason rankings."