A brief history of the SEC baseball tournament

The manner in which the SEC determines its champion in baseball and the role the SEC tournament plays in that process has varied widely through the years.  Here is a brief history of the event.

Mississippi State enters the 2016 SEC tournament as regular season champions of the Southeastern Conference, a fact that will forevermore be in spite of what transpires in Hoover this week, but that hasn’t always been the case.

Prior to 1977

There was no SEC tournament.  The teams (there were 10 at that time) were divided into Eastern and Western Divisions.  For many years, the West had only four teams: Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss and Mississippi State, while the East had Florida, Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Kentucky.  It is unclear why the divisions were not evenly divided but in 1975, Auburn moved to the Western Division, giving each division five teams.

There was no inter-division conference play during those years.  The teams played home and home series against divisional opponents.  The top teams in each division played one other in a best of three series to determine the overall SEC champion. Mississippi State won championships under this format in 1948, 1949, 1965, 1966, 1970 and 1971.

1977-1986

In 1977, the first-ever SEC baseball tournament was hosted by Ole Miss, who had won the Western Division that season. The top two teams from each division competed in a four team double elimination tournament to determine the overall SEC champion, with the host site rotating between the Western and Eastern division champions in alternating years.  Mississippi State participated in that first tournament, along with Florida and Vanderbilt.  Ole Miss won the tournament and became the first team to win the SEC championship by winning the conference tournament.

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Subsequent tournaments were held at Dudy Noble Field in 1979, 1981 and 1983.  The Bulldogs took the title in 1979, fell short in 1981 and 1983, and won the 1985 tournament that was hosted by LSU.

The SEC abandoned Eastern and Western divisions for the 1986-1991 seasons and competed as one large division.  The SEC tournament remained a four team event in 1986 but expanded to six teams in 1987.

1987

Mississippi State had to sweep its final SEC series of the year against Alabama just to qualify for the 1987 tournament as the #6 seed, and then proceed to win the double elimination tournament and claim the SEC championship.  The rules were changed the following year so that the winner of the tournament was no longer considered the SEC champion.  Going forward, the regular season champion was the team with the best winning percentage in regular season conference games, but the winner of the SEC tournament continued to receive the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

1988-1991

Mississippi State hosted but did not win the tournament in 1988.  The Bulldogs captured the 1989 regular season title, but did not win the tournament, which was played that year at Florida’s McKeethan Stadium.   In 1990, the tournament was held at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, AL , marking the first time the event had been held at a neutral site.  Mississippi State and LSU were declared co-champions of that tournament that year after rain and lightning suspended the winner-take-all championship game.

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1992-1995

Arkansas and South Carolina joined the league in 1992 and the tournament was expanded to eight teams.   The 1992 tournament was played in the Superdome.  Then in 1993-1995, the league conducted two tournaments, one for each division.  All SEC teams participated in the divisional tournaments, and tournament games counted in the final standings.  The SEC team with the best winning percentage, including tournament games, was declared the regular season champion.  The SEC hoped that by having two tournaments it would receive two automatic bids to the NCAA tournament.  However, the NCAA did not approve this plan, instead awarding the automatic bid to the tournament winner with the best winning percentage in conference games.  The 1995 Western Division tournament was hosted by Mississippi State.

1996-2011

The SEC returned to a single tournament with eight teams in 1996.  While a number of variations in format were used, the tournament remained at eight teams through 2011. Hoover has hosted every SEC tournament since 1996, with the exception of the 1997 tournament, which was played in Columbus, GA.  Mississippi State won SEC tournament titles under this format in 2001 and 2005.

2012-present

The tournament expanded to ten teams in 2012 (which Mississippi State won, playing six games in six days). Then in 2013, with the addition of Texas A&M and Missouri to the conference, the tournament expanded again to 12 teams where it remains today. Now it’s single elimination the first day, double, double, double, single and single to close out the tourney.