MSU Baseball Finds Way Into Big Ten Tournament, Begins Tuesday

Just barely, Michigan State baseball's season will continue for at least two games.

College baseball's regular season wrapped up, leaving the stage for the conference tournaments. MSU, which went 22-31 overall with an 11-19 conference record, just barely got into the Big Ten Tournament.

Michigan State's coach Jake Boss Jr. claps in the second inning on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, during the Crosstown Showdown against the Lugnuts at Jackson Field in Lansing. 220406 Lugnuts Msu Bsball 047a | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Elimination Was Near-Miss

Of the 17 Big Ten baseball teams (Wisconsin doesn't have one), the top 12 make it into the current format. The Spartans' 11-19 mark was actually tied for 12th with Minnesota.

Nationally ranked Nebraska actually had to sweep the Golden Gophers this past weekend to bring the two teams into a tie. Michigan State was playing a non-conference series against Illinois State to finish off its regular season.

Michigan State's head coach Jake Boss Jr. heads to the dugout during the seventh inning in the game against Ohio State on Friday, April 18, 2025, at McLane Stadium in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Since MSU and Minnesota did not face each other this season, the tiebreaker reportedly came down to whichever program had the better record against common opponents that finished in the top eight of the standings. The Spartans went 5-13 during those games, while the Golden Gophers went 2-13.

This will be the second straight time and the third time in four years that Michigan State has found its way into the Big Ten Tournament. MSU was the 12th and final seed last season, too, and went 0-2, losing to top seed Oregon and 8-seed Nebraska. This is the program's 10th appearance in the conference's postseason in 18 seasons under Jake Boss Jr.

The New Bracket

The postseason will officially begin on Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET in Omaha. In the bracket released by the Big Ten, Michigan State was paired up with 5-seed Purdue (35-18 overall, 18-12 Big Ten) during the very first game of the conference tournament. MSU went 1-2 against the Boilermakers during a series in East Lansing in late March.

This bracket is different from last year's system, which featured "pods." It's basically split up into two phases. Eight teams will essentially be battling for four spots in the next phase. Seeds 1-4 got a bye straight to the single-elimination quarterfinals, while seeds 5-12 are in a double-elimination phase.

Nick WIlliams MSU basebal — Michigan State's Caleb Berry, center, celebrates his home run with teammates Sam Busch, left, and Nick Williams during the seventh inning in the game against Ohio State on Friday, April 18, 2025, at McLane Stadium in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

To put it simply, you have three games to win twice to get into the quarterfinals. If MSU goes 2-0 out of the gate in Omaha, it would move on to face 4-seed USC. Going 2-1 comes with a less exciting reward in a matchup against 1-seed UCLA, the top-ranked team in the nation on RPI.

That's a pretty big if, though. We also know that the Spartans' second—and final guaranteed—opponent in Omaha will be either the 8-seed Iowa or the 9-seed Illinois. The winner of MSU-Purdue gets the winner of Iowa-Illinois on Wednesday, while the losers play an elimination game. Michigan State took a 2-1 series against Iowa at home in March. It lost a neutral-site, non-conference game against Illinois in extras back in February.

Add us as a preferred source on Google