SEC Baseball will go to 16-team, single elimination in 2025
- Thread starter 615dawg
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I love the SEC tournament but honestly it’s turned into a glorified exhibition. The good teams don’t care about winning, they are just setting up their pitching for the regional.
The Hoover Met sucks and the SECT is pretty much meaningless.
Single elimination adds some intrigue, i suppose.
Single elimination adds some intrigue, i suppose.
Yeah, this seems to make it even more pointless.
Not in baseball.
If you travel to it, you want to see your team play a couple games at least. This is one thing that travel baseball gets right, you get 2 pool play games on Saturday, for scheduling.
The SEC Tournament is an event every baseball fan should go to at least once. I usually go even if State doesn’t make it. If you like baseball it really doesn’t matter who is playing.
Why not just adapt the ACC's model? Top 12 go to Hoover, get grouped into 4 pods of 3. Everybody plays 2 games. The 4 pod winners advance to a semi-finals and finals.
You're guaranteed to have all 12 fanbases there for at least 2 days on Thursday and Friday.
And heck if you want Wednesday, have a set of play-in games for the other 4 teams.
With this single elimination BS, nobody knows when to get hotel rooms.
You're guaranteed to have all 12 fanbases there for at least 2 days on Thursday and Friday.
And heck if you want Wednesday, have a set of play-in games for the other 4 teams.
With this single elimination BS, nobody knows when to get hotel rooms.
Some teams don't, but it doesn't matter either way. So if you're going to go, may as well go to win it.
That's what LSU does.
I think that format is really the only other workable option. Without the play-in for the last 4 teams.
The real change that was needed was a new location. Just rotate Nashville, Memphis and Birmingham.
It really doesn't even do that. The only purpose for these tournaments for power conferences is to make money. It's a little bit about the bubble teams, but it's really about the money. And that's one reason they keep it in Hoover. They know for a fact they will make a lot of money every year. They've tried other cities way back in the 1990s and got burned, so they're hesitant to try another site like Nashville or Memphis that someone else mentioned.
a money grab and its not good for teams to go 2 full weeks without playing. Adding another week of sec games isnt the end of the world to solve that issue... but 33 conference games is a weird number
Or eliminate them across the board and start the season a week later. I know that won’t happen but that’s the solution.
I prefer the old SEC East Tourney and the SEC West tourney format! Let the East Teams play in Hoover and the West Teams play in Regions Park.
The ACC pod format would work great with 16 teams, but you need two stadiums. Everyone plays 3 games, 3 games a day at each park, (11 a.m., 3 p.m., 7 p.m.)
Pod 1
1, 8, 9 and 16 seeds
Pod 2
2, 7, 10 and 15 seeds
Pod 3
3, 6, 11 and 14 seeds
Pod 4
4, 5, 12 and 13 seeds
Tuesday (A vs. B, B vs. C, C vs. D)
Pod 1 at Hoover Met
Pod 2 at Regions Park
Wednesday (A vs. B, B vs. C, C vs. D)
Pod 3 at Regions Park
Pod 4 at Hoover Met
Thursday (A vs. C, B vs. D, D vs. A)
Pod 1 at Regions Park
Pod 2 at Hoover Met
Friday (A vs. C, B vs. D, D vs. A)
Pod 3 at Hoover Met
Pod 4 at Regions Park
Saturday
Pod 1 winner vs, Pod 4 winner
Pod 2 winner vs. Pod 3 winner
Sunday
Semifinal Winners
Pod 1
1, 8, 9 and 16 seeds
Pod 2
2, 7, 10 and 15 seeds
Pod 3
3, 6, 11 and 14 seeds
Pod 4
4, 5, 12 and 13 seeds
Tuesday (A vs. B, B vs. C, C vs. D)
Pod 1 at Hoover Met
Pod 2 at Regions Park
Wednesday (A vs. B, B vs. C, C vs. D)
Pod 3 at Regions Park
Pod 4 at Hoover Met
Thursday (A vs. C, B vs. D, D vs. A)
Pod 1 at Regions Park
Pod 2 at Hoover Met
Friday (A vs. C, B vs. D, D vs. A)
Pod 3 at Hoover Met
Pod 4 at Regions Park
Saturday
Pod 1 winner vs, Pod 4 winner
Pod 2 winner vs. Pod 3 winner
Sunday
Semifinal Winners
Where are you getting your info, doesn't look like any single elimination has been announced.
I've never lived more than 3hrs from Hoover (2 hrs the last 9 years) and never even been to the tournament. That's coming from a guy that hasn't missed a game at The Dude in going on 10 season. The tournament just seems so anticlimactic, I don't care a thing about watching 2 teams play that aren't from Starkville. I'd much rather see us rest some arms and legs and be ready for a regional/super than watch a glorified exhibition
Concur it is a great fan event and the SEC does a good job putting it on.
As a kid, I loved the SEC tournament. I'd spend 3+ days with my grandparents out in Hoover and watch a couple games. It was a great start to summer break and gave my parents a little break. As an adult, I couldn't imagine taking off work for it, with extremely limited PTO it's really hard to find a reason to go and watch essentially meaningless baseball. Especially with our recent (Lemonis Era) Hoover track record
Lemonis doesn’t try to win Hoover. Everyone pitches two innings. It doesn’t matter if they are pitching lights out or getting hammered, they are going to pitch two innings. No more, no less.
Meaningless to the teams who have already secured their spot in a Regional, but very meaningful to 6-8 teams that need the wins or the automatic berth to get in. If there was a way to determine the teams we know that will get in, then they should be removed from the tourney and let the lower level and bubble teams battle it out for the extra wins or auto berth for whoever goes the distance. Wouldn't have to call it the SEC Championship. Maybe just call it the SEC Play-In Tourney.
I always wondered why not let all teams get in. You never know one team might get hot and get an automatic bid that would not have gotten an at large bid.
Haven't we gotten in 10 teams before to the Regional levels? With the newly expanded version, I can see us easily getting in 8-10 teams every year.
I took his comment as 6-8 teams on the bubble trying to play their way in, and I was saying there wouldn't be more than 1 or 2 on the bubble having to play their way in. No question, after adding TX & OK, the SEC should have at least 8-10 teams comfortably in before the conference tournament every year.
Hey, look. Thats the last time I make a JackatShelter post and try to give the board a heads up.
Ok so should the basketball tournament be double elimination? I mean you have to travel to see that.
I don't think so. The NCAA basketball tourney is single elimination.
The NCAA baseball tournament is double elimination, so why not match it? One baseball game isn't a very good indicator of the better team. I mean at minimum we play a best of 3 series every weekend. Under this format, may as well hand the trophy to one of the top 4 seeds because they'll throw their ace. But maybe that's the idea.
But it's all a money-maker anyway, and doesn't matter. Irrelevant event.
They’ll still make money no matter what and let’s be honest there aren’t many teams that really care about it.
Future SEC Baseball Tournament format approved
All 16 SEC baseball teams will participate in the league's annual post-season tournament in a single-elimination format beginning with the 2025 baseball season.
www.secsports.com
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