This version of the D1A tournament would feature the top eight teams by power ranking, regardless of division. They would be seeded 1-8 and play a best-of-three, first-round series with the game dates coinciding with the first three rounds of the tournament. Every team is guaranteed a home game.
The four winners advance to a single-elimination semifinal, followed by the state championship game, held on the same dates and at the same venues as the rest of the tournament.
Over the past four years, five Division 2 teams would have qualified, as well as three Division 3 teams (St. Mary’s and Norwell last year, Austin Prep in 2022). No Division 4 or 5 teams would have qualified. Of the 32 teams, 18 were public and 14 were private.
TMC chair Shaun Hart, the athletic director at Burlington, asked the overarching question: “What am I gaining by adding a 1A that I don’t have right now? I have the best baseball tournament I’ve ever had the last five years . . . What does a Division 1A provide me?”
“The overall goal of the Super 8 is the same from when it was started to now, to add excitement to the sport of baseball for student-athletes and communities,” said former Oxford baseball coach Justin Richards,. “It’s letting the top eight schools play with each other, it’s letting eight more teams into the tournament, and it’s letting those teams 16-24 who have no shot going up against the powerhouses, it gives them a greater shot.”
“It does something we need to do for all our sports,” added MIAA liaison Keith Brouillard. “It enhances the sport of baseball. I hear about student participation [being down]. What are we doing to highlight our sports? I think this is a good chance to showcase the sport of baseball.”
There were two main drawbacks discussed, the primary being whether or not teams can opt out. The approved proposal does not allow opt outs, unless a school removes itself from the entire tournament.
Oakmont athletic director Eric Dawley, whose school won Division 3 baseball titles in 2023 and 2024, explained why a lower-division school might want to opt out.
“We hadn’t won a state title in baseball and in 2023 if we were forced to play in the Super 8, it would have denied our school a chance to win our first divisional title,” he said. “But in ‘24, we had just won one, so maybe we would have wanted to throw our hat in the ring.”
It was also noted if you allow schools to opt out, you’re no longer holding a tournament between the top eight teams.
“Super-ish 8,” quipped Malden principal Chris Mastrangelo.
The other main detractor was that teams losing their first game would get to play a second game in D1A, which isn’t the case in any other MIAA tournament.
“As soon as we go to double elimination that’s not the same opportunity,” said Dedham principal Jim Forrest. “To me, double-elimination is decidedly not the same path to the championship.”
Defenders noted that teams still need to win five games for a state title, and that the top eight teams almost always play at least two games. Over the last four years, only one of 32 teams that would have qualified for the Super 8 didn’t play at least two tournament games.
The proposal will be reviewed by the finance committee, then sent to the Board of Directors for a final vote. It also must be vetted by the MIAA’s legal counsel. If passed by the Board, the tournament would begin in 2027.
The TMC voted 18-2 to approve an additional division for cross-country, which will now have four divisions for each gender. The first postseason weekend will still feature 12 races, with A and B waves in each division. The following weekend will now feature eight championship races instead of six.
“We’ve spent a lot of time on this,” said Lowell AD Scott Ouellett. “We feel really good about our tournament. This little tweak we’re looking for will really solidify where we’re at.”
Supporters cited that more than 200 schools participate in the sport, and that Division 2 is too broad, ranging from smaller private schools with 200 students to larger vocational behemoths with 2,000-plus.
While baseball was on its second reading, hockey’s Division 1A proposal, which varies a bit from baseball, was introduced to the TMC members, who plan to vote on it at their April 16 meeting.
The biggest contrast in the hockey proposal is the tournament opens with three pool-play games, as opposed to a best-of-three series.
Adding to considerations is the expectation that boys’ and girls’ hockey will each drop a division during the next alignment cycle, with girls going to just one division (plus a possible D1A) and the boys reducing to three (plus a possible D1A). This spring, 32 of the 34 Division 2 girls’ teams qualified for the tournament and more than 80 percent of all girls’ hockey teams went dancing. If the D1A proposal passes, there would still be six state finals.
The final major discussion was a proposal to reduce the maximum margin of victory for boys’ and girls’ hockey games from three to two.
“We want as many players as possible to play in games,” said Duxbury boys’ hockey coach Mike Flaherty. “We feel with the margin of victory at [3 goals], some schools really struggle to do that . . . And when you’re trying to establish a larger lead, it can lead to sportsmanship issues.”
A statewide poll of hockey coaches showed 77 percent in favor of lowering the MOV to two goals, with 87 percent saying it factors into their in-game decision-making.
In this year’s tournament, two playoff teams would have been different across the six divisions if the MOV change had been enacted.
Potential Super 8 baseball tournament clears another major hurdle
