NCAA Baseball Tournament Selection and Bracketing Guidelines for 2025

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Selection Process Overview

The NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament features 64 teams. These are chosen through a combination of automatic bids and at-large selections:

29 conference champions receive automatic berths.
35 teams are selected at-large by the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee2 6.

The committee evaluates teams based on factors such as overall record, RPI (Ratings Percentage Index), strength of schedule, and performance in key games, including conference tournaments1 2.

Regional and National Seeding

The 64 teams are placed into 16 regional sites, each hosting a four-team, double-elimination bracket.
The top 16 teams are awarded national seeds and are given the opportunity to host regionals and, if they advance, super regionals1 6.
The committee aims to balance competitive equity and geographic considerations when placing teams in regionals, but specific bracketing rules are followed to avoid early matchups between teams from the same conference when possible1 6.

Guidelines for Placing Teams in Regionals

Teams are seeded 1 through 4 in each regional.
The committee uses a combination of performance metrics and geographic proximity to assign teams to regional sites, but the integrity of the national seeds is preserved1 6.
The committee avoids placing teams from the same conference in the same regional whenever possible, particularly in the first round6.

Earliest Same-Conference Matchups

According to NCAA bracketing policy, teams from the same conference are generally not placed in the same regional (first round).
The earliest that teams from the same conference can meet is in the super regional round, unless more than five teams from one conference are selected, in which case some overlap in regionals may be unavoidable due to bracketing constraints6.
In practice, the committee strives to prevent intra-conference matchups until the super regionals, but exceptions can occur if a conference has a large number of teams in the tournament field.

Tournament Structure

Regionals: 16 sites, four teams each, double elimination.
Super Regionals: Winners of each regional paired into eight best-of-three series.
Men’s College World Series: Eight super regional winners advance to Omaha, split into two double-elimination brackets, with bracket winners meeting in a best-of-three championship series2 6.

Key Takeaways

29 automatic bids and 35 at-large selections make up the 64-team field.
Teams from the same conference are not placed in the same regional, so the earliest they can meet is in the super regional round, unless bracketing constraints require otherwise6.
The selection committee uses a mix of performance metrics, RPI, strength of schedule, and geographic considerations to build the bracket1 2 6.

These guidelines ensure a fair and competitive NCAA baseball tournament, while also accounting for logistical realities and the desire to avoid early intra-conference matchups.

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