ACC Announces New Format for Postseason Baseball Tournament

A lot of changes are happening in college baseball this year, even with the conference postseason tournaments. With new teams joining the ACC, including Stanford and Cal, the number of teams in the conference jumped up to 16. Because of that, the conference announced that it was changing the format of their postseason baseball tournament.

Originally a pool/round-robin style tournament, the spring of 2025 will see all 16 teams head to Durham, North Carolina and compete in a single elimination championship. The tournament will still take place over the span of six days at the Durham Bulls ballpark, from May 20-25, but will feature the debut of the new format.

ACC commissioner, Jim Phillips, stated that he is extremely excited that every conference team will get an equal opportunity to win the playoff tournament, alluding to just how competitive ACC baseball is, allowing for a potentially unforgettable experience.

"There's once again tremendous excitement surrounding ACC baseball and today's announcement will bring an improved championship experience for our student-athletes, coaches and fans alike," Phillips said. "Nationally, the ACC is once again well-represented in the preseason polls and award lists. After what we know will be a highly competitive regular season, we look forward to showcasing all 16 baseball teams in Durham this May."

Starting in 2006, the tournament was played either in a round-robin or a pool play format and initially had 10 of its teams play in it. But in 2017, the tournament expanded its field size from 10 teams to 12.

Now, the new format will have the top four seeds (based off of the regular season) receive double byes in the quarterfinal round. The 5-8 seeds will earn a bye and go straight to the second round. All the other seeds will play first round games on that Tuesday.

Four first round games will be played on Tuesday, and four second round games will be played on Wednesday. Then, there will be two quarterfinal games on Thursday and Friday followed by two semifinal games on Saturday. On Sunday, May. 25, the championship game will take place. Tickets for the tournament will go on sale starting on Feb. 12.

Taking place in Durham for the 14th time ever (ninth time since 2009), the Clemson Tigers are the most recent team to win the ACC tournament there, winning the 2023 edition before losing two games to one in the Clemson Regional. Duke, the program that calls Durham home, were the winners of last year's ACC tournament that took place in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Expanding the tournament once again this year is a testament to just how strong the ACC is in baseball, with eight teams making it to the NCAA Tournament last season. Four teams from the conference made it to the College World Series, which tied an NCAA record. Five ACC teams got to compete in the Super Regionals as well, with four of those teams getting to host.

It will be interesting to see just how fast this new format catches on, but with the opportunity to provide more exciting and easier to follow postseason college baseball, it could very well be that this becomes the new normal for the ACC from here on out.