NCAA warns baseball teams: Stop canceling games to protect postseason metrics
The NCAA issued a letter last week to college baseball coaches on their concerns about games being canceled for non-weather reasons.
The NCAA Division I Baseball Oversight Committee has put college baseball programs on notice for non-weather related game cancellations. In a letter to Division I baseball coaches on Wednesday, May 6, Michael Alford, the chair of the oversight committee, wrote that both the oversight committee and Division I Baseball Championship Subcommittee have expressed worries about the number of regular-season games canceled this season "for reasons other than inclement weather. " "It is not the intent or spirit of the game to adjust scheduled games in an attempt to strategically impact selection data or metrics," the letter wrote.
pic. twitter. com/AKKB1YuOeG — Jordon Banfield (@JCBanfield) May 11, 2026 More: Kentucky Wildcats' baseball game vs NKU Norse canceled, no makeup date More: NCAA baseball tournament bracket projections after Week 13, see bubble movement The "impact selection data or metrics" that Alford mentions in the letter, which was shared on X (formerly Twitter) by Cal State Bakersfield head coach Jordon Banfield, is likely referring to the NCAA's RPI Rankings system, which is heavily considered and weighed by the NCAA Selection Committee when putting together the NCAA Baseball Tournament bracket.
The RPI system — also known as the Rating Percentage Index — is a data-driven sorting system based on a team's strength of schedule. It uses three factors: a team's own winning percentage, its opponents' winning percentage and its opponents' opponents' winning percentage. Boston College announced Monday, May 11 that it has canceled Tuesday’s non‑conference game against UMass Lowell, saying the cancellation was "to remain within the NCAA‑mandated limit for regular‑season competitions.
" The Eagles weren't the only recent Power Four program to cancel a non-conference game, though. Marshall announced on Monday that "Virginia Tech notified Marshall officials that they have elected to opt out of the contract for the contest" between the two programs that was also scheduled for Tuesday. Central Florida announced on Sunday that both the Knights and Bethune-Cookman "mutually agreed" to cancel their non-conference game for Tuesday as well.