Every year in early June, as many people are coming off of Memorial Day celebrations and getting prepared for summer, it is crunch time for 64 of the country’s best college baseball programs. The objective is identical for all - earn a trip to Omaha and come home with a College World Series title.
After their last chance to impress the committee throughout conference tournament week, teams anxiously tuned in to the selection show Monday afternoon to find out if they were selected, where they will be playing, and against whom they will be competing during the Regionals, which take place this weekend, June 2nd-5th.
So how does the tournament work? For the first round, Regionals, the 64 teams in play are divided into 16 groups of 4. The top 16 seeds in the tournament get the privilege of hosting their regional at their home field, where all games in the round are played. Within each regional, teams are seeded 1 through 4 and play a double elimination tournament against each other. The last team standing of those 4 will advance to the next round of the tournament: Super Regionals. At a minimum, winning teams will have to win three games over three days. Here is an example of one regional bracket to see how it works game to game:
The 16 Regional winners emerge to play in the Super Regional round, where the formatting is different from the week before. 16 teams will be grouped into 8 Super Regionals of 2 teams each, in which teams play a best of three game series. The team with the higher original seed is the host for the Super Regional. Super Regionals will take place June 9th-12th.
The 8 Super Regional winners then move on to Omaha for the college World Series. The 8 teams are split into groups of 4 and play a double elimination tournament, very similar to the Regional format. One team will emerge from each group of 4 and face off in the Championship round, which is a best-of-three series. The winner of that best-of-three series is crowned the College World Series Champion. The two rounds of the CWS take place from June 16th-26th in Omaha, Nebraska.
National Top 16 Seeds
Each of the following teams will serve as hosts for Regionals as they have finished the season as a top 16 team:
Wake Forest (47-10)
Florida (44-14)
Arkansas (41-16)
Clemson (43-17)
LSU (43-15)
Vanderbilt (41-18)
Virginia (45-12)
Stanford (38-16)
Miami (FL) (40-19)
Coastal Carolina (39-19)
Oklahoma St. (41-18)
Kentucky (36-18)
Auburn (34-21-1)
Indiana St. (42-15)
South Carolina (39-19)
Alabama (40-19)
Regionals
Winston Salem & Tuscaloosa
Prediction: Wake Forest emerges from Winston Salem and Boston College comes out on top in Tuscaloosa.
Coral Gables & Stanford
Prediction: Miami continues their hot streak and wins in Coral Gables. Texas A&M takes the Stanford regional.
Baton Rouge & Lexington
Prediction: The #1 team for most of the season, LSU wins in Baton Rouge. Kentucky emerges victorious in Lexington due in part to visitors having to stay in dorms throughout the weekend.
Auburn & Clemson
Prediction: Southern Miss takes the Regional in Auburn. ACC tournament champ Clemson moves onto the Super Regional.
Gainesville & Columbia
Prediction: Florida wins the Gainesville regional. Campbell feeling slighted by not being hosts upsets South Carolina and wins the Columbia regional.
Conway & Charlottesville
Prediction: Duke wins the Conway regional . Virginia wins it at home in Charlottesville.
Nashville & Stillwater
Prediction: SEC champ Vandy wins it in Nashville. Dallas Baptist emerges from Stillwater as regional winner.
Terre Haute & Fayetteville
Prediction: #3 seed UNC wins the Terre Haute regional. Arkansas takes the regional at home in Fayetteville
How to Watch
The NCAA tournament provides excellent entertainment filled with tense ballgames and stunning upsets. All games can be watched on ESPN channels and ESPN+. An under-rated feature is "Squeeze Play" on ESPN+ which bounces around from all of the action happening around the country (think "NFL Redzone" but for college baseball).
*For predictions, I claim to know nothing and wouldn't be surprised to get at least 60% wrong. Plan accordingly.
For more baseball and sports thoughts, follow me on Twitter @lkurtzy23
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