College World Series - Format History and Changes

Format History and Changes

1947 — Eight teams were divided into two, four-team, single-elimination playoffs. The two winners then met in a best-of-three final in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

1948 — Similar to 1947, but the two, four-team playoffs were changed to double-elimination tournaments. Again in the finals, the two winners met in a best-of-three format in Kalamazoo.

1949 — The final was expanded to a four-team, double-elimination format and the site changed to Wichita, Kansas. Eight teams began the playoffs with the four finalists decided by a best-of-three district format.

1950-1987 — An eight-team, double-elimination format for the College World Series coincided with the move to Omaha in 1950. 1950-1953, a baseball committee chose one team from each of the eight NCAA districts to compete at the CWS. Though 1987 the College World Series was a pure double-elimination event. That ended with the 1987 College World Series.

1988-1998 — The format was changed beginning with the 1988 College World Series, when the tournament was divided into two four-team double-elimination brackets, with the survivors of each bracket playing in a single championship game. The single-game championship was designed for network television, with the final game on CBS on a Saturday afternoon.

Before expanding to 64 teams in 1999, the Division I tournament began with 48 teams, split into 8 six-team regionals. The winner of each regional advanced to the College World Series. The regionals were a test of endurance, as teams had to win at least four games over four days, sometimes five if a team dropped into the loser's bracket, placing a premium on pitching. In the last two years of the six-team regional format, the eventual CWS champion - (LSU in 1997 and Southern California in 1998) - had to battle back from the loser's bracket in the regional to advance to Omaha.

1999-2002 — With some 293 Division I teams playing, the NCAA switched to a 64-team, Regional field in 1999, with 8 National (super) Seed teams, divided into 16 four-team regionals (each team seeded 1 to 4), with the winners of each of the 16 "Regionals" advancing to eight two-team, best-of-three-format "Super Regionals". The eight Super Regional winners advanced to the CWS in Omaha, NE. In 2008, a number-4-seeded Regional team, the lowest seeding possible (akin to a #13-16 seed in college basketball's March Madness) - the Fresno State Bulldogs - won the CWS championship, against the Bulldogs of the University of Georgia, winning two of three in the championship series. While the CWS format remained the same, the expanded field meant that eight super regional champions would advance. The 64-team bracket is set at the beginning of the championship and teams are not reseeded for the CWS. Since the 1999 College World Series, the four-team brackets in the CWS have been determined by the results of regional and super-regional play, much like the NCAA basketball tournament. Prior to 1999, the pairings for the CWS were not determined until after the completion of the regional tournaments.

2003-Present — The eight super regional champions advance into two, four-team brackets. The eight super regional winners are not reseeded for the CWS. Those two brackets play double-elimination with the bracket winners then meeting in a best-of-three championship series. Also, in 2003, the tournament returned entirely to cable television on ESPN, which had been covering all of the other games of the CWS since 1982 (and a partial schedule since 1980). The championship final became a best-of-three series between the two bracket winners, with games scheduled for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday evenings. In the results shown here, Score indicates the score of the championship game(s) only. In 2008, the start of the CWS was moved back one day, and an extra day of rest was added in between bracket play and the championship series.