The Mid-American Conference baseball tournament is the conference baseball championship of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

, Division I members of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA). Since 2024, the top six finishers participate in the

double-elimination A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having lost ''two'' games or matches. It stands in contrast to a single-elimin ...

tournament, which is played at a neutral site. The winner of the tournament receives an automatic berth to the

NCAA Division I Baseball Championship The NCAA Division I Baseball Championship is held each year from May through June and features 64 college baseball teams in the United States, culminating in the eight-team College World Series, Men's College World Series (MCWS) at Charles Schwa ...

. The tournament began in 1981, but was not held from 1984 through 1991. It returned in 1992 and was held annually through 2019. It was scheduled to be played in May 2020, but was cancelled in March 2020 due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. As part of several changes announced in May 2020 related to the pandemic, the tournament was eliminated along with the post-season tournaments of seven other sports, for at least four seasons. The tournament, however, returned in May 2022 after the conference announced in May 2021 that the baseball tournament, along with all other conference tournaments that had been eliminated, would be restored for the 2021–22 athletic season. Kent State has won the most tournament titles with 12, followed by

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower Peninsula of the United States, U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said t ...

and

Eastern Michigan Eastern Michigan University (EMU, EMich, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern) is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1849 as the Michigan State Normal School, it was the fourth normal school (teachers' ...

with four each.

Format

The MAC baseball tournament is held in mid to late May at the conclusion of the regular season. As of 2024, the tournament is held at a neutral site and the top six teams in conference play qualify, with the top two seeds receiving byes to the second round. Although the number of qualifying teams has been as low as four and as high as eight, the tournament has always used a double-elimination bracket. The first tournament, in 1981, featured only the top four conference finishers in a double-elimination format. The following two seasons, 1982 and 1983, the conference was divided into East and West divisions and the top two seeds from each division qualified. When the tournament returned in 1992, the original format featuring the top four teams was again used and remained in place through 1997. The 1992 tournament was also when the All-Tournament Team and Most Valuable Player award were instituted. Beginning in 1998, the conference was again divided into East and West divisions for the regular season and the tournament format was expanded to a six-team field in a double-elimination bracket, with the top three finishers from each division qualifying. In 2001, the format changed from the top three in each division to the top six overall, regardless of division. The number of qualifying teams was expanded to eight in 2008 and remained there through the 2017 tournament, but was reduced back to six teams for the 2018 and 2019 tournaments following the decisions to shutter the baseball programs at

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

in 2015 and Buffalo in 2017. The separate divisions were also eliminated after the 2017 season. When the tournament was reinstated in 2022, the original format of only the top four teams qualifying was instituted again and remained in place for 2023. The conference expanded the tournament back to six teams in 2024 as part of its return to a neutral location.

Location

Initially, the tournament was hosted by the top seed, with

hosting the inaugural tournament in 1981 at Theunissen Stadium in

Mount Pleasant, Michigan Mount Pleasant is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is the county seat of Isabella County, which is part of Central Michigan. The population of Mount Pleasant was 21,688 as of the 2020 census. The city is surrounded by Union Char ...

. The following season, the MAC held the tournament at a neutral location, playing the 1982 tournament at Franklin County Stadium in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. The tournament returned to a campus site in 1983, being hosted by

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for a region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Generally, it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Peninsula's Lake ...

Hyames Field Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field is a baseball stadium located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States, on the campus of Western Michigan University. It opened in 1939, and serves as the home field for the Western Michigan Broncos baseball ...

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

. When the tournament was revived in 1992, it continued to be held at campus sites, usually the home field of the top seed. Kent State hosted the first three tournaments after it was revived at Gene Michael Field in

Kent, Ohio Kent is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the largest city in Portage County, Ohio, Portage County. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeast Ohio on the western edge of the county. The population was 28,215 at the 2020 United States ...

. The top seed continued to host through the 2007 tournament. The conference began using a neutral site in 2008. V.A. Memorial Stadium in

Chillicothe, Ohio Chillicothe ( ) is a city in Ross County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 22,059 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located along the Scioto River 45 miles (72 km) south of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, ...

, hosted the tournament from 2008 through 2011, followed by Crushers Stadium (initially known as All Pro Freight Stadium) in

Avon, Ohio Avon ( ) is a city in northeastern Lorain County, Ohio, United States. The population was 24,847 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Cleveland metropolitan area. History In the 17th century, what is now Avon, Avon Lake, Bay Village, and W ...

, where it remained from 2012 through 2019 and was scheduled to be held in 2020. Following the tournament's reinstatement in 2022, it was again held at campus sites in 2022 and 2023, but the conference announced in August 2023 that the tournament would return to Mercy Health Park in 2024 through at least 2026.

Champions

By year

The following is a list of tournament champions and sites listed by year.

By school

The following is a list of tournament champions listed by school and the years each team was eligible to play in the tournament. ''Former conference members shaded in ██ silver''

References

{{Mid-American Conference championships navbox