College baseball is a growing sport among both casual fans and online sports betting experts. The College World Series odds market is an increasingly popular table for futures bettors.
However, NCAA baseball (and NCAA softball) use a funky postseason system that can be a bit difficult for first-timers to understand.
For anyone that’s confused on how all this works, I’m here to help.
How Do Regionals Work In College Baseball?
There are 64 teams that make the postseason in both college baseball and college softball. The selection committee identifies 16 top teams that are awarded hosting privilege; the other 48 teams are on the road.
Each regional host plays a mini-tournament at their home park with four teams. The host team typically opens against a low-major automatic qualifier, while the other two teams at each regional also play a head-to-head game.
Each regional uses double-elimination rules, which means the winners play each other and the losers play each other after the first set of games. Once a team has lost two games, it’s eliminated from the tournament.
Play continues until one team is left in each regional pod.
Super Regionals
Once each of the 16 regional tournaments has a winner, the tournament moves on to the Super Regionals phase. The winner of the No. 1 seed’s regional plays the winner of the No. 16 regional; the winner of the No. 2 seed’s regional plays the winner of the No. 15 regional; and so on.
Super Regionals are played as a best-of-three series. The winner moves on to the next round, while the loser is eliminated.
How Many Teams Make It to the College World Series?
After the Super Regionals, there are only eight teams remaining. Those eight teams advance to Omaha to play in the College World Series, which is a return to the double-elimination format.
College World Series
For baseball, the CWS splits into two double-elimination groups with four teams each. Play continues until each four-team bracket has a winner.
Those two winners face off in a best-of-three series for the NCAA championship.
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