The 8-team tournament concludes the NCAA baseball tournament. When the tournament had 48 teams, there were 8 six-team regionals, with the winners advancing to the College World Series. With the tournament's current size of 64 teams, adopted in 1999, there are 16 four-team double-eliminationregionals. Regional winners advance to 8 head-to-head best-of-three super regionals, and super regional winners advance to the College World Series.
Through 1987, the College World Series was a pure double-elimination event. The format was changed in 1988, 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 made for broadcast television, with the final game traditionally on CBS. But in 2003, the tournament was shifted entirely to ESPN and the championship final became a best-of-three series between the last two remaining teams. In the results shown here, Score indicates the score of the championship game(s) only.
Since 1999, 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.
The Division II tournament has been held in Montgomery, Alabama since 1985. The Division III tournament has been held in Appleton, Wisconsin since 2000. These divisions use a single-game championship rather than the best-of-three series.
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