NCAA Baseball
Conference Rank
2021

This is a 'scorecard' by conference for 2021, the 22-nd for the 64-team playoff system where every conference gets an automatic bid. [There was no tournament in 2020 due to COVID-19.] You can find the full results elsewhere.

My original motivation for this summary was the thought that the regionals are a major source of inter-conference and inter-region play that helps one evaluate the relative strength and (possibly) future selection or seedings of teams from various regions and conferences. I think it still serves that purpose.

Current status:

Super regionals are in their third day. Super regionals are complete! On to the CWS. Vanderbilt and Stanford were the first teams into the CWS, while Mississippi State and Virginia were the last ones in.

National 15th seed Florida went 0-2 for the SEC on their home field.

Here is the 'histogram' of the success rate for the 2021 NCAA regionals.

I tally a Regional champion under "win" and the Super-Regional champion (the team that goes to the CWS) under "champ" so the "champ" column is unchanged from the previous 48-team system.

Notes:
There are no changes in the conference lineup BUT the Ivy League did not play baseball this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.. As a result, there will be only 30 conferences with an automatic bid, so 34 of the 64 teams are selected at large instead of 33.
The * below indicates that the conference was guaranteed a slot in the CWS because both teams in a particular Super Regional were from the same conference. In this year's case, in Regions 3 and 14, this resulted from a 3rd seeded team from the SEC upsetting the national 14th seeded team from the Pac-12.


                           ------ wins ------
    Conference    Number    0    1    2+  win  champ   comments
    ==========    ======   ===  ===  ===  ===  =====   -----------------
    SEC              9      1    2         3     3*    UF was BBQ'd, 10 bids in 2019
    ACC              8           4    1    1     2     8 bids in 2019  
    Pac-12           6           1    3          2     5 bids in 2019
    Big 12           4           2         1     1     5 bids in 2019
    Conf USA         4           1    3                2 bids in 2019
    Big Ten          3      1         2                5 bids in 2019
    American         2                     2           3 bids in 2019
    Mo Valley        2           1         1           3/3 on first day in 2019
    Big West         2                2                Knocked out N2 seed in 2018
    Metro Atlantic   2      1         1                Last regional win was in 2014
    Atlantic Sun     2      1         1                Won a regional in 2018
    Big South        2      1         1                Went to CWS in 2016
    SunBelt          1                1                Won a regional in 2014 and 2015
    MAC              1                1                Upset wins in 2021 and 2019, to CWS in 2012
    West Coast AC    1           1                     Won a regional in 2014
    Big East         1           1                     upset wins in 2017, 2019, and 2021
    Atlantic-10      1           1                     Won region in 2017 (also in 2015)
    America East     1           1                     Won a game in 2015 and 2021, to CWS in 2012
    Summit           1           1                     Had an upset win in 2017 and 2021
    Mountain West    1      1                          Had an upset win in 2017
    Ohio Valley      1      1                          Won regional over N4 seed in 2018
    Northeast        1      1                          Last win was in 2013
    WAC              1      1                          upset win in 2019
    Southern         1      1                          upset Florida State in 2018 and 2014
    Patriot          1      1                          Beat a 1 seed (N16) in 2018
    Southland        1      1                          Won region in 2017
    Colonial         1      1                          did well in 2016, won 2014 region over N seed
    MEAC             1      1                          Beat national seed in 2017, wins in 2014, 2002
    Horizon          1      1                          Won two games in 2016
    SWAC             1      1                          Upset national seed in 2014

    Ivy              0      -                          did not play this year due to COVID-19

    independent      0      -                          none 

Effect of format update made in 2018:

Although it has no effect on the organization of the table shown here, there was a significant change in the playoff format that marks a final break with a long-standing tradition in tournament seeding that will affect these stats. The NCAA seeded teams from 1 to 16, and paired up the regionals so that 1 plays 16, 2 plays 15, ..., and 8 plays 9 in the respective Super Regionals. This now mirrors what has been done in Basketball "forever". Although not publicized, this led to a significant change in who a conference team might face in a Super Regional. Until 2018, it was forbidden to seed two teams from the same conference so they would be "expected" to meet in the same Super Regional, but that is no longer the case. There are multiple instances in 2021 where the top seeds in a Super Regional pair are from the same conference. ?? update as needed ?? There are two regional pairs with SEC teams at the top, plus one each for the Pac-12, ACC, and Big 12 conferences.