It is a partially double-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season conference records.

The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I baseball tournament.

From 1951 to 1976, the division winners played a best-of-3 series to determine the SEC champion and representative to the NCAA tournament.

In 1986, the SEC eliminated division play, adopting a full round-robin schedule (27 games), and the team with the best regular season conference record (LSU) earned the right to host.

In 1990, the conference did not accept an automatic bid after lightning and heavy rain disrupted the tournament's championship game and co-champions were declared.

Games on the last two days of the 1991 tournament were shortened to seven innings due to torrential rain in Baton Rouge which left standing water throughout the outfield at LSU's Alex Box Stadium.

With the addition of Arkansas and South Carolina to the conference, the SEC held an eight team (out of 12) double elimination tournament.

In 1999, the qualification standards were changed to the top two teams in each division plus the next four based upon overall conference winning percentage, which remained in place through 2011.

There was speculation the Tournament could move to other larger Southern cities, including Atlanta's Turner Field, but additional RV accommodations secured the event in Hoover.

[citation needed] In 2008, the SEC adopted a "flipped bracket" on a trial basis.

[2] Both finalists in the 2012 tournament, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, had to play in the opening round.

[3] In 2016, the SEC considered bids from Nashville and New Orleans to move to Triple-A facilities in those cities.

^1 Mississippi State and LSU were declared co-champions in 1990 when the tournament was abandoned because of weather issues.