How Does College Baseball Playoffs Work?

Find out how college baseball playoffs work and how they differ from the professional playoffs.

Introduction

The College Baseball Playoffs is a tournament that takes place at the end of the college baseball season in the United States. The tournament is divided into four rounds, with each round featuring a different format. The first three rounds are held at various sites around the country, while the finals are held at a single site.

The first round of the College Baseball Playoffs, known as regionals, features 16 teams. The teams are divided into four groups of four, with each group playing a double-elimination tournament. The winners of each regional advance to the next round.

The second round, known as super regionals, features eight teams. The teams are again divided into four groups of two, with each group playing a best-of-three series. The winners of each super regional advance to the College World Series.

The third round, known as the College World Series, features eight teams. The teams are divided into two brackets of four, with each team playing the other teams in its bracket in a double-elimination tournament. The winner of each bracket then advances to the best-of-three final series.

The fourth and final round is known as the World Series. This round features two teams playing a best-of-seven series to determine the national champion.

NCAA Division I

The NCAA Division I Baseball Championship is a 64-team, double-elimination tournament held annually by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The tournament culminates with eight teams in the College World Series, a best-of-three series to determine the national champion.

Since the inaugural event held in 1947, the College World Series has been held in Omaha, Nebraska at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. It is organized into four 16-team regionals, which conduct play from June 1 through 4. Each regional winner advances to a best-of-three Super Regional series, which are played from June 8 through 11 on the campuses of the two respective regionals’ winners. The eight Super Regional winners advance to Omaha for the College World Series.

The 64 NCAA Division I college baseball teams are selected out of 300 eligible teams on Selection Monday, which occurs on the first Monday after Memorial Day. Of these teams, 32 earn automatic berths by winning their conference tournaments. The remaining 36 berths are awarded to at-large teams by a selection committee composed of college baseball coaches and media members from around the country.

NCAA Division II

The NCAA Division II Baseball Tournament is an annual event that takes place every spring. It is a double-elimination tournament that features some of the best college baseball teams in the country. The tournament is open to any Division II school that meets the eligibility requirements, and it typically consists of around 64 teams.

NCAA Division III

In order to be eligible for the NCAA Division III baseball playoffs, a team must first win their conference tournament. The amount of teams that make it to the playoffs from each conference varies depending on the strength of the conference. The selection process for the NCAA Division III baseball playoffs is overseen by the NCAA Division III Baseball Committee, which is made up of ten members.

The committee uses a criteria to select and seed the teams that make it into the playoffs. The criteria includes won-lost record, strength of schedule, head-to-head results, results against common opponents, late-season performance and whether a team is playing in their home stadium. The committee also takes into account whether a team has been in the playoffs recently and if they have advanced far in recent years.

The NCAA Division III baseball playoffs consists of six rounds of play. The first four rounds are played at campus sites, with four teams playing in a double-elimination format at each site. The semifinals and finals are held at a predetermined site and are both single-elimination games.

NAIA

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), founded in 1937, is a college athletics governing body for small colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. The NAIA governs 12 different sports across nearly 500 colleges and universities nationwide, including baseball. The NAIA baseball playoffs are one of the most unique postseason formats in college athletics.

Unlike the NCAA, which has a dozen or more teams qualify for their playoffs out of over 300 schools that play Division I baseball, only 32 teams make the playoffs in NAIA baseball. In order to make the playoffs, a team must first win their conference tournament. The conference tournament winner is then given an automatic berth into one of four 8-team regionals.

The other 24 teams in the field are selected by an at-large committee based on their body of work throughout the regular season. Once the field is set, the 8 teams in each regional play a double-elimination tournament until one team is left standing. The four regional winners then advance to the final site where they play a double-elimination tournament to decide the national champion.

While it may not have the same prestige as winning an NCAA title, taking home an NAIA championship is still a big deal for these small schools. A number of big names in Major League Baseball have come from NAIA schools, including Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan and current stars like Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.