*For the ACC Conference Championship
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – Beginning this spring with the 2025 ACC Baseball Championship in Durham, North Carolina, all 16 teams in the ACC will compete in a single-elimination championship.
Under the new format, the top four seeds in the championship will be based off the performance in the regular season and will receive a double-bye into the quarterfinal round, which is scheduled to be held on Thursday and Friday. Seeds five through eight will earn a bye into Wednesday’s second round. Seeds 9-16 will begin play with four first round games on Tuesday.
The change was proposed by the league’s 16 head coaches and has received direct support from the student-athletes. The single-elimination format provides a more exciting and easier to follow true championship format which will enhance fan engagement.
I don’t want to get too deep on college baseball too early in the history of CarlsBlogs.com but same time I might not have a choice. Like same time I just same in my shorts just a little drip-drip from seeing this announcement. This is the right step towards expanding the popularity of college baseball no matter how shitty or unfair it is to the validity of a championship.
This should lead to chaos in the ACC postseason tournament, as consequently people will love it. That’s because right now, it’s so hard to follow postseason college baseball because the double elimination format. I played 4 years of division 1 baseball (you might have heard) and it took me until my sophomore year to really understand what’s going on with the round robin style. And if I can’t follow it, then it’s obviously difficult for those south of the mason dixon line much less casual sports fans trying to catch a game on ESPN. So making things easier to follow should naturally increase the pool of people who follow.
And let me be clear. We’re very far away from this hitting the NCAA. Right now it’s just an ACC tournament thing. But it’s a huge step towards embracing some volatility at the sake of an easier format to market to the general public.
Just looking at the graphic… all it takes is 2 decent pitchers from a very bad team to create a ridiculous quarterfinal matchup between the #1 seed in the country’s 2nd best conference. Like there’s a world where a 20-win ACC team is tied in the bottom of the 8th inning against the University of North Carolina for a shot at regionals. That’s equal parts crazy and awesome.
Basketball benefits so much from the chaos. It’s the best tournament on earth because anything can happen. And the big cost of that is sometimes you don’t get the best teams down the stretch. In hindsight, does that devalue the NCAA tournament? Or do you find the upsets more interesting? That’s the easiest question anyone could ever ask. Purists aside, we want the chaos and you have to be a complete moron to suggest otherwise.
That’s why I like this so much. Even if it’s just the ACC right now, it’s a model for the rest of the country to adopt and I really think one day it makes it’s way to the NCAA tournament. Like imagine 8 teams rolling into Wrigley Field on a weekend in June to play 7 single elimination games from Friday to Sunday. That would be such a better experience in the NCAA tourney then farming out regionals and coordinating all that lousy coverage. Just throw it into a couple super sites and incentivize mass upsets.
Will we get there? Probably not while I’m alive but it’s fun to dream boys. And in this dream, I’m back throwing 92 with heavy arm side sink as Illinois clinches a trip the CWS behind my emergency spot start of 7 innings, 10 hits, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts, 2 earned runs and 4 double plays.
That’s what the new format gives. A much better platform for upsets and stories and legendary characters. That’s such a better product for college baseball and I’m dead serious when I say this is the path forward to really grow the game.
PS – Augie Garrido highlight reel. Anytime you talk college baseball, you need to keep this guy at the front of your mind.
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