The NCAA Baseball Tournament has a problem. Not with its top tier — but with everything it leaves behind.
Every June, 64 teams step into the spotlight. But every year, dozens of 30-plus win programs — often from the mid-majors — are quietly shown the door. They’re left behind not because they failed, but because they weren’t born into the right conference or didn’t have the budget to play 14 road games in the SEC.
And the gap is only growing.
This year, over four-dozen programs from mid-major conferences posted at least 30 wins. Yet 30 of the 35 at-large bids went to teams from just four conferences — the SEC (12), ACC (eight), Big 12 (seven), and Big Ten (three). Add independent Oregon State to the mix, and that left just four total at-large spots for the rest of Division I.
That’s the fewest for mid-majors since the NCAA adopted the 64-team super regional format 26-years -ago.
Sound familiar? It should. College basketball solved this problem decades ago — with the NIT.
It’s time college baseball did the same.
Call it what you want — but the vision is clear: a separate postseason tournament reserved for mid-major programs, a Mid-Major Baseball Invitational. Imagine a 32-team field, with no Power 5 schools invited. Eight regional pods of four teams each, culminating in a Final Four weekend at a neutral site like Durham, Winston-Salem, or Greenville. The tournament would start alongside the NCAA Regionals and wrap up before the College World Series begins.
Sound familiar? It should. College basketball solved this problem decades ago — with the NIT.
It’s time college baseball did the same.
Call it what you want — but the vision is clear: a separate postseason tournament reserved for mid-major programs, a Mid-Major Baseball Invitational. Imagine a 32-team field, with no Power 5 schools invited. Eight regional pods of four teams each, culminating in a Final Four weekend at a neutral site like Durham, Winston-Salem, or Greenville. The tournament would start alongside the NCAA Regionals and wrap up before the College World Series begins.
It’s a tournament that gives programs like Northeastern, Indiana State, UC Irvine, and Campbell a chance to shine. Teams good enough to matter, but not powerful enough to get the benefit of the doubt.
Without it, the system stays tilted. Coaches keep explaining RPI formulas instead of building momentum. Fan bases lose interest. Talented teams with top-25 résumés get buried because they didn’t play Tuesday night at Alex Box Stadium.
If you’re building a program in the Atlantic 10 or the Big East, what are you playing for? A miracle?
As things are structured now, the cards are stacked in favor of only the power conferences.
Basketball didn’t invent the idea of tiers — it embraced them. The NIT, CBI, and CIT all serve a purpose. Baseball? It’s still pretending it doesn’t need one.
But as NIL, conference realignment, and media rights pull the haves and have-nots further apart, an NIT-style postseason is no longer a luxury.
It’s a necessity.
It rewards programs that deserve better. It builds exposure, excitement, and momentum for the next season. And most of all, it grows the game — not just for the powerhouses, but for the schools clawing their way into the conversation.
College baseball doesn’t need a handout. But it does need a second chance.
Basketball didn’t invent the idea of tiers — it embraced them. The NIT, CBI, and CIT all serve a purpose. Baseball? It’s still pretending it doesn’t need one.
But as NIL, conference realignment, and media rights pull the haves and have-nots further apart, an NIT-style postseason is no longer a luxury.
It’s a necessity.
It rewards programs that deserve better. It builds exposure, excitement, and momentum for the next season. And most of all, it grows the game — not just for the powerhouses, but for the schools clawing their way into the conversation.
College baseball doesn’t need a handout. But it does need a second chance.
The Mid-Major Baseball Invitational is that chance. And it’s long overdue.
