Pac-10 Baseball Tournament Could Start by 2010

With Oregon starting to play under George Horton in 2009, there will be no excuse for the Pac-10 not to at least entertain the idea of holding an annual baseball tournament. Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com outlines some of the possible benefits of such a tournament, mainly highlighting fringe teams like Washington State who would have a better shot at the field of 64 with a decent showing in a post season tournament:

Washington, Oregon State and Washington State were snubbed from
the tournament in 2008, while California and Washington in 2007, and Washington and Washington State in 2006 are additional examples. By instituting a conference tournament, the Pac-10 would level the playing field with other power conferences.

"Come selection time, it's not hard to notice teams that get into the tournament because of how they play in their conference tournament," Marbut said. "If you're under .500 in our league, you're not going to get in. Having a conference tournament would only help teams in that regard."