My idea for a revamped SEC baseball tournament format...

Just an idea...would probably never happen.

I think the idea of "well its single elimination the first day...then double elimination for a couple days...then single elimination again" is kinda hokey. With my new format, there would be 4 games Wednesday, 4 games Thursday, 4 games Friday, 2 games Saturday, and the title game Sunday. Total: 15 games. Here is what I would do:

12 teams make it.

There would be 4 groups with 3 teams each.

Group 1: Seeds 1, 8, 12
Group 2: Seeds 2, 7, 11
Group 3: Seeds 3, 6, 10
Group 4: Seeds 4, 5, 9

On Wednesday-Friday, you have "pool play", where you play the 2 teams in your group. There would be 1 game from each group each day. Teams would either play Wed-Thur, Wed-Fri, or Thur-Friday.

After Friday, the winner of each group would be determined and on Saturday, the single elimination semi-finals would be set...winner of Group 1 vs. winner of Group 4 and the winner of Group 2 vs. winner of Group 3. The winners would then play one game for the title on Sunday.

The PROS:

-Each team is guaranteed 2 games. I think it sucks that 4 teams under the current format get one game, lose, then go home.

-No team would play more than 4 games, so there is no chance of devastating a pitching staff before regionals.


The CONS:

-Tiebreakers within groups. If one team goes 2-0, then it is easy, of course. If all three teams go 1-1, then a tiebreaker would have to be in place. I think a run-differential tiebreaker would make it really interesting.

-The possibility exists that some Friday games could be "meaningless", in that if a team is already 2-0 in group play after Thursday, the Friday game in that group would involve two 0-1 teams. I don't see it as horrible though...those teams might need an extra win going into the NCAA's or something.

Just a thought. I think the league is really jumping the shark with this new 12-team format they are currently running.