Miami vs Louisville Predictions, Picks & Betting Odds (Game 1)

• Miami squares off with Louisville in Game 1 of the Louisville Super Regional on Friday
• The winner of the 3-game series earns a berth in the College World Series
• See my Miami vs Louisville Game 1 picks and predictions below

It’s been a long time since the Miami Hurricanes have won the College World Series, going all the way back to 2001, their fourth-ever title. The Louisville Cardinals haven’t been so lucky, having never claimed the trophy. On Friday, Game 1 of a best-of-3 series begins in the Super Regionals, which boasts 16 squads still in contention for the 2025 national championship. The eight winners of the Super Regionals head to the College World Series in Omaha, where they’ll be split into two double-elimination brackets, consisting of four teams each.

The books are favoring Louisville over Miami in Game 1 of this best-of-three series, with opening pitch set for 3pm ET on Friday, June 6, at Jim Patterson Stadium in Louisville, KY, with ESPN2/ESPN+ providing coverage.

Miami vs Louisville Odds

The Cardinals are -175 favorites on the moneyline, an implied win probability of 63.64%. The Hurricanes, meanwhile, are +135, an implied probability of just 42.55%. Louisville is -1.5 (+100) on the runline, and the total is set at 12 runs with -115 odds each way. Whichever team loses the opening salvo still has a chance to win the series with victories in Games 2 and 3.

DRAFTKINGS SPORTSBOOK

Sign Up Today & Receive Up to
$1,050 in Bonuses!

LOCK IN PROMO

SIGNUP PROMO

SIGN UP
& GET $1,050

BONUS BETS + DEPOSIT BONUS

GET PROMO

Miami vs Louisville Picks & Predictions

• Louisville Runline (+100 at DraftKings)

These two adversaries did not square off at all in the 2025 season. The latest duel was last year, won 8-5 by Miami in the ACC Baseball Championship. There’s no discernible advantage based on history in this matchup, with the ‘Canes holding a slim 12-11 all-time record in the series.

What Miami team will show up? They’ve been very streaky all season, dropping six of their last seven regular season contests. However, in the Hattiesburg Regional, They won 5-3 vs Alabama and annihilated Columbia 14-1. Following that, Miami was torched 17-6 by 16th seeded Southern Miss, only to recover with a 5-4 nailbiter to make the Louisville super regional.

That disastrous loss looms large in not knowing how to handicap a Canes team that is erratic. Pitching was a big time issues earlier on the campaign, but it had settled down until recently. Only three of their hurlers have an ERA under 4.00, which is cause for concern. The offense is paced by by Daniel Cuvet, who led the team in home runs (17) and RBI (81), 25 more than his next closest pursuer Dorian Gonzalez Jr.

Previous Five Men’s College World Series Winners

No winner in 2020 due to COVID

Louisville is the favorite in this one, having won all three affairs in the Nashville regional. They defeated East Tennessee State, 8-3, upset No. 1 overall national seed Vanderbilt, 3-2, then earned a 6-0 shutout victory over fourth-seeded Wright State in the regional final.

Louisville’s best stuff is better than a lot of teams, as they’ve moved past multiple ranked opponents to get to this matchup. Pitching was great in the run up to the super regional, but that’s been the exception, not the rule. Starter Patrick Forbes has a fantastic 98 punchouts in 60.1 innings of work, but still is pitching to an ERA of 4.62. The bullpen has been a real boon and saving grace, because they’ve been overtaxed by a shaky starting staff.

This is Miami’s first trip to the super regionals since 2016, while Lousiville are back for the first time since 2022. The Hurricanes are relevant again, after last seasons disastrous 27-30 mark that saw them under .500 for the first time since 1957. Like the Canes, the Cardinals also lost six of seven down the stretch prior to their perfect 3-0 run through the Nashville regional.

The Cardinals hitting is their calling card, with a .306 batting average, and opponents have a ghastly 7.81 ERA against them, compared to 5.88 for Miami. Four Cards have 50+ RBI on the campaign for a balanced offensive approach. I fear the Hurricanes inconsistency pitching, while Louisville held three opponents to five runs in total in the Nashville regionals. To get a bit more juice on the wager, I’ll take the Cardinals run line of -1.5, at +100.