Fire up that ESPN+ account – the 2024 NCAA Baseball season is on our doorstep! Over 300 Division-I programs compete for eight coveted spots in the College World Series at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska. The College World Series officially begins Friday, June 14, 2024.
However, there's a lot of postseason baseball played before the CWS. Once conference championship tournaments wrap up, 64 teams are selected to play in the NCAA Baseball Tournament, which begins May 31.
As mentioned, 64 teams are selected to play in the NCAA Baseball Tournament this year on May 26. Those teams are broken up into 16 four-team pods, referred to as Regionals (May 31-June 3), and they compete in a round-robin style tournament. The top seed of each regional hosts the tournament weekend.
Conference champions make up 31 automatic bids to the postseason, and a selection committee picks 33 other at-large teams. The committee also selects the top 16 teams in the country, and those teams host the Regionals.
The 16 victors of the Regional round advance to the Super Regionals (June 7-10). The higher seed of the two teams competing hosts this round, and the teams play a best-of-three series.
Eight winners from the Super Regionals punch their ticket to the College World Series.
Things get a little complicated in the CWS. Those eight teams are broken up into two-four team pods (referred to as "brackets"), each of which plays its own double elimination-style tournament. The winner of each bracket advance to the College World Series final – a best-of-three series to determine a National Champion.
For a visual explainer, check out the 2023 College World Series bracket.
The CWS was first played in 1947 and moved to Omaha in 1950 (previous: Kalamazoo, Mich.; Wichita, Ks.). 1999 marked the field expansion to 64 teams – and, as a result, created the Super Regional round – and, in 2003, the final changed from a single game to a best-of-three series.
Catch the entire College World Series broadcast on ESPN and ESPN2. The Regionals and Super Regionals will be broadcast on the main ESPN networks as well as ESPN+.
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