NCAA Baseball Warning Coaches Not To Cancel Mid-Week Baseball Games

Several Division 1 baseball teams are cancelling late-season games, particularly mid-week matchups against lower-ranked opponents, to protect their RPI and enhance their chances for an NCAA tournament at-large bid. The NCAA has formally warned coaches that this practice, often used to avoid a potential loss that would significantly damage tournament resumes, could lead to negative evaluations.

NCAA warning: The division 1 baseball oversight committee sent a letter to coaches on May 6th 2026, stating that games cancelled to avoid the impact of mathematical metrics will be discussed and could have a negative impact on the sub-committee's evaluation of a team.

Targeted cancellations: Teams are accused of calling off games for non-weather reasons to avoid losing ranking points in the 25% RPI formula. That heavily weighs opponent winning percentages. Some of the schools cancelling games are listed below, along with the RPI ranking.

Oregon (20) - Grand Canyon (211)

N.C. St. (41) - N.C. A&T (279)

Virginia Tech (39) - Marshall (175)

Kentucky (33) - N. Kentucky (276)

Miami (Fl) (35) - FIU (219)

B.C. (29) - U. Mass Lowell (229)