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(Photo by Tyler Schank/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
The college baseball selection committee on Sunday night announced the 16 regional hosts for the 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament, which is set to begin on Friday May 29.
Georgia, Georgia Tech, Auburn, Texas, North Carolina, Texas A&M, Oregon, Florida, Southern Miss, Kansas, Nebraska, UCLA, West Virginia, Mississippi State, Florida State and Alabama were selected by the committee. The rest of the bracket, including the seeding order of the host sites, will be announced on ESPN2 at noon ET on Monday.
There were few, if any, real surprises in the NCAA’s host-site announcement as the hosting race had effectively narrowed to 17 realistic contenders by the morning of championship Sunday.
Baseball America projected Arkansas into the top 16 before its matchup with SEC regular-season champion Georgia in the conference title game, but the Razorbacks were run-ruled and ultimately fell just below the cut line. Instead, Mississippi State secured the final hosting spot. The Bulldogs had been projected as a host by Baseball America until Sunday morning, when Arkansas temporarily moved ahead of them.
The decision will undoubtedly frustrate Arkansas fans, who have a legitimate argument that the Razorbacks built a stronger overall resume than Mississippi State in particular. Arkansas finished with more Quad I wins, a better regular-season conference record, advanced to the SEC Tournament championship game and won the regular-season series against the Bulldogs. Ultimately, though, the committee sided with Mississippi State, which held the RPI advantage and reached the 40-win mark overall.
The question now becomes whether the committee’s apparent preference for RPI, likely one of the primary reasons Mississippi State ultimately landed ahead of Arkansas, is a sign of what’s to come on Selection Monday. Several at-large cases, including Mercer, UTSA, Kentucky and others, could be heavily influenced by raw RPI standing with other resume components taking more of a back seat than many expected.
That possibility is particularly interesting because committee chairman Michael Alford spoke extensively before the season to Baseball America about valuing the “eye test” and encouraging committee members to evaluate teams beyond spreadsheets and formula-based sorting systems. But if Sunday’s host-site decisions are any indication, RPI may still carry overwhelming weight when resumes become tightly packed together.
Monday’s final field reveal should give a much clearer indication of which philosophy truly drove the room this year.
In addition to Sunday’s host announcement, nearly all automatic bids had been determined. They are as follows:
ConferenceWinnerAmerican AthleticEast CarolinaAmerican EastBinghamtonAtlantic 10VCUACCGeorgia TechAtlantic SunLipscombBig 12KansasBig EastSt. John’sBig SouthUSC UpstateBig TenUCLABig WestCal PolyCoastalNortheasternConference USAJacksonville StateHorizonMilwaukeeIvy LeagueYaleMetro AtlanticRiderMid-AmericanNorthern IllinoisMissouri ValleyIllinois-ChicagoMountain WestWashington StateNortheastLong IslandOhio ValleyLittle RockPatriotHoly CrossSECGeorgiaSouthernThe CitadelSouthlandLamarSummitSouth Dakota StateSun BeltSouthern MissSWACAlabama StateWACTarleton StateWCCSaint Mary’s
