New SEC Baseball Tournament format set to begin in 2025

A new SEC Baseball Tournament format has been approved beginning with the 2025 season, which will have all 16 teams participating.

Under the existing format, only the top 12 teams in the regular-season standings compete in the SEC Baseball Tournament, which currently uses a hybrid single/double elimination over the course of six days. That format will be used for the final time this season.

Beginning in 2025, the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns will join the SEC, which will expand the league to 16 teams. The tournament will still be played across six days, but all 16 teams will participate. Four games will be played each Tuesday and Wednesday, while two games will be played each Thursday through Saturday with the championship game on Sunday.

Based on the final regular-season standings, seeds 9 through 16 will play on Tuesday, while the 5 through 8 seeds will receive a bye and begin play on Wednesday. The top four seeds will receive a double-bye and will begin play on either Thursday or Friday.

SEC BASEBALL TOURNAMENT FORMAT (beginning May 2025)

Tuesday
Game 1: Seed No. 9 vs. Seed No. 16
Game 2: Seed No. 12 vs. Seed No. 13
Game 3: Seed No. 10 vs. Seed No. 15
Game 4: Seed No. 11 vs. Seed No. 14

Wednesday
Game 5: Winner Game 1 vs. Seed No. 8
Game 6: Winner Game 2 vs. Seed No. 5
Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. Seed No. 7
Game 8: Winner Game 4 vs. Seed No. 6

Thursday
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Seed No. 1
Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Seed No. 4

Friday
Game 11: Winner Game 7 vs. Seed No. 2
Game 12: Winner Game 8 vs. Seed No. 3

Saturday
Game 13: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10
Game 14: Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 12

Sunday
Game 15 (Championship): Winner Game 13 vs. Winner Game 14

Earlier on Thursday, the Georgia Bulldogs announced their 2024 SEC Baseball TV Schedule, which features eight games on either SEC Network or ESPNU.

Georgia is slated to open the 2024 season on Friday, Feb. 16 at home at Foley Field in Athens, Ga., against UNC Asheville. The Diamond Dawgs will open SEC play on Friday, March 15 on the road against the Kentucky Wildcats.

2024 UGA Baseball Schedule