For the first time in its history, UCLA baseball will begin the season as D1Baseball.com’s top-ranked team, according to an announcement made Monday. This is also the Bruins’ first appearance at the top of a preseason poll since 2008, when they were ranked No. 1 by Baseball America.
UCLA has previously reached the No. 1 spot after significant achievements, including following their national championship in 2013 and during seasons in 1979, 1997, and 2010 as recognized by Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America.
The team’s performance during the 2025 season was notable for several reasons. UCLA shared the Big Ten regular-season title with Oregon after finishing with a record of 48-18 overall and 22-8 in conference play. The Bruins earned the No. 15 overall seed for postseason play, which allowed them to host a regional at Jackie Robinson Stadium. They then swept both the Los Angeles Regional and Super Regional rounds to secure a place in the College World Series.
This achievement marked a significant turnaround from the previous year; UCLA improved its win total by 29 games, moving from just 19 wins to 48. The team did not lose any home series during the season and recorded a strong home record of 31-7. Their final tally of 48 wins ranks as the fifth-most in program history, and this was their sixth appearance at the College World Series—their first since winning it all in 2013.
Head coach John Savage led a squad that combined deep pitching talent with consistent offensive production. Roch Cholowsky stood out individually, earning several major honors including Baseball America’s National Player of the Year—becoming only the sixth non-draft eligible player to receive that award in its four-decade history. He was also named Player of the Year by ABCA/Rawlings, D1 Baseball, and Perfect Game.
Cholowsky became UCLA’s first player to win both Big Ten Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards in one season, as well as being UCLA’s first conference player of the year winner since 1998. On a national level, he became both UCLA’s first recipient and college baseball’s first sophomore winner of the Brooks Wallace Award for best shortstop.
