2011–12 Australian Baseball League season

2011–12
Australian Baseball League
Season details
Sport Baseball
Country  Australia
Teams 6
Dates 4 November 2011 – 11/12 February 2012
Defending champions  Perth Heat (2010–11)
Regular season
Games played 31
Attendance 33,142  (1,069 per game)
Best batting average Tim Kennelly (.529)
Most homeruns hit Alex Burg (5)
Most stolen bases James McOwen (7)
Best ERA Warwick Saupold (0.45)
Most strikeouts (as pitcher) Mike McGuire (26)
2012–13 →

Last updated on 23 November 2011

The 2011–12 Australian Baseball League season is the second Australian Baseball League (ABL) season, and is being held from 4 November 2011 to either 11 or 12 February 2012, depending on the number of games required in the best-of-three game championship series. The season was scheduled to start on 3 November with a single game between the Perth Heat and the Adelaide Bite at Baseball Park in Perth, but the game was postponed due to wet weather.[1]

The season consists of six teams competing in a 45-game schedule followed by a three-round postseason to determine the ABL champion. During the regular season, defending champions Perth Heat will participate in the 2011 Asia Series against the champions from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The 2011–12 champions will likewise qualify for the 2012 Asia Series.

Contents

Changes from 2010–11 season

Entry to Asia Series

Main article: Asia Series

Announced after the inaugural ABL season had been completed, the league's champions each season will be invited to the restarted Asia Series.[2] The event had previously been contested between the winners of Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB) Japan Series, Korea Professional Baseball's (KPB) Korean Series, Chinese Professional Baseball League's (CPBL) Taiwan Series, and China Baseball League's (CBL) championship series. The 2011 tournament will not feature the CBL's champions, but officials have stated that a team would participate in future editions. Unlike all four previous editions of the tournament which were held in Japan, the 2011 edition will be held in Taiwan. The tournament follows a round-robin format, where each team plays each other once. The top two teams then face each other in a single game to decide the champion.[3]

The Asia Series is held in November, which would otherwise create a conflict for the ABL champion team as the following season would have already commenced. To avoid this, the League announced that during the 2011–12 season, the Perth Heat—2010–11 champions—would be scheduled to have a bye while competing in Taiwan.[4]

Regular season schedule

The previous season included 40 games for each team and facing each team eight times, four at home and four on the road.[5] This will be expanded for the 2011–12 season to 45 games, by increasing one of the series between each team from four to five games, so that there will be nine games between each team. This will also result in three teams playing one more game at home than on the road, and the reverse for the other three teams.[6]

To allow for Perth Heat's participation in the 2011 Asia Series, all six teams will receive a bye during the early rounds of the regular season. The Heat and Brisbane Bandits' bye is timed to line up with the tournament in round four, with the Adelaide Bite and Canberra Cavalry's bye in round three, and the Melbourne Aces and Sydney Blue Sox' bye in round five.[6]

Teams

Adelaide Bite
Brisbane Bandits
Canberra Cavalry
Melbourne Aces
Perth Heat
Sydney Blue Sox
Teams in the ABL
Team City State Stadium Ref
 Adelaide Bite Adelaide South Australia Coopers Stadium [7]
 Brisbane Bandits Brisbane Queensland Brisbane Exhibition Ground [8]
 Canberra Cavalry Canberra Australian Capital Territory Narrabundah Ballpark [9]
 Melbourne Aces Melbourne Victoria Melbourne Showgrounds [10]
 Perth Heat Perth Western Australia Baseball Park [11]
 Sydney Blue Sox Sydney New South Wales Blue Sox Stadium [12]

Venues

Each of the six teams are returning from the previous season, and are continuing to use the same grounds for their home games. The name of Sydney's home ground changed during the off season, changing from Blacktown Olympic Park to Blacktown International Sportspark Sydney, and the main baseball diamond in the complex being called Blue Sox Stadium.[13]

Rosters

As in the previous season, each team has an active roster of 22 players available each round. These players are drawn from 35-man squads. Each team has several foreign players in their squad, and each team includes at least one player from the United States. Not counting Australia, there are players from eleven countries on the rosters of the teams participating.[14]

Foreign players by country
Team Number of players
 GBR  GER  IND  ITA  JPN  KOR  NZL  PUR  RSA  TWN  USA Total
 Adelaide Bite 1 1 8 10
 Brisbane Bandits 1 4 2 1 8
 Canberra Cavalry 5 1 8 14
 Melbourne Aces 1 2 4 7
 Perth Heat 11 11
 Sydney Blue Sox 1 1 2 2 6

Regular season

2011–12 regular season standings
Team[15]		 W L Pct. GB Home Road Tiebreaker[S 1]
 Perth Heat 11 0 1.000 – 3–0 4–0
 Brisbane Bandits 6 6 .500 5 1⁄2 3–1 3–5
 Canberra Cavalry 4 4 .500 5 1⁄2 2–2 2–2
 Sydney Blue Sox 4 8 .333 7 1⁄2 3–5 1–3 .750
 Melbourne Aces 4 8 .333 7 1⁄2 3–5 1–3 .250
 Adelaide Bite 2 5 .286 7 2–2 0–3
Notes
  1. ^ The head-to-head between Sydney Blue Sox and Melbourne Aces is 3-1 in Sydney's favour.

Statistical leaders

Batting leaders
Stat Player[S 1] Team Total
AVG Tim Kennelly  Perth Heat .529
HR Alex Burg  Perth Heat 5
RBI Mitchell Graham  Perth Heat 16
R James McOwen
Dominic Ramos		  Perth Heat
 Melbourne Aces		 13
H 4 tied at 20
SB James McOwen  Perth Heat 7
Pitching leaders
Stat Player[S 2] Team Total
W Steven Kent  Canberra Cavalry 3
L Simon Morriss  Brisbane Bandits 4
ERA Warwick Saupold  Perth Heat 0.45
K Mike McGuire  Canberra Cavalry 26
IP Craig Anderson  Sydney Blue Sox 25.2
SV Benn Grice  Perth Heat 3
  1. ^ Minimum 2.7 PAs per team game. Correct as of 13 November 2011.[16]
  2. ^ Minimum 0.8 IP per team game. Correct as of 13 November 2011.[17]

Postseason

At the completion of the regular season, the top four teams will progress to the postseason. It will be contested over three weeks, following the Page playoff system. Each stage will be decided by a best–of–three game series. Unlike regular season games, which make use of a variation of the International Baseball Federation's mercy rule after seven innings, no such rule will be in place for postseason games; all games will go the full nine innings, with the only exception being games that are tied after nine innings, therefore requiring extra innings.

  Semi-Final Series Premliminary Final Series Championship Series
  26–28 January 2011 3–5 February 2011 10–12 February 2011
                           
1st    First place team  
2nd    Second place team       W-A    Winner Major Semi-Final
  L-A    Loser Major Semi-Final   W-C    Winner Preliminary Final
    W-B    Winner Minor Semi-Final  
3rd    Third place team
4th    Fourth place team  

Awards

Player of the Week award winners
Round Player Team Ref
1 John Tolisano  Canberra Cavalry [18]
2 Masashi Nohara  Canberra Cavalry [19]
3 Mitchell Graham  Perth Heat [20]
Pitcher of the Week award winners
Round Player Team Ref
1 Benjamin Moore  Perth Heat [18]
2 Mike McGuire  Canberra Cavalry [19]
3 Nic Ungs  Melbourne Aces [20]

References

  1. ^ "Postponement of 2011-12 ABL Opening Day". Australian Baseball League. 3 November 2011. http://web.theabl.com.au/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111103&content_id=25880634&vkey=news_l595&fext=.jsp&sid=l595. Retrieved 14 November 2011. 
  2. ^ Stephan, Gene (19 May 2011). "Heat to take on Asia's best teams". The West Australian (Seven West Media Limited). Archived from the original on 24 May 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5yuOF1s2l. Retrieved 29 May 2011. 
  3. ^ Huang, Paul (19 May 2011). "CPBL: Asia Series to get under way after two-year hiatus". Taipei Times (Liberty Times Group). http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/sport/archives/2011/05/19/2003503599. Retrieved 29 May 2011. 
  4. ^ Schroder, Mark (18 May 2011). "ABL Champions To Battle Asia's Best". Australian Baseball League. http://web.theabl.com.au/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110518&content_id=19212110&vkey=news_l595&fext=.jsp&sid=l595. Retrieved 29 May 2011. 
  5. ^ "2010–11 Australian Baseball League Schedule" (PDF). Australian Baseball League. 2010. http://www.abl.baseball.com.au/site/baseball/abl/downloads/2010-11%20ABL%20Schedule.pdf. Retrieved 29 May 2011. 
  6. ^ a b Sedgman, Cassandra (23 May 2011). "2011/12 ABL Game Schedule" (PDF). Australian Baseball League. http://web.theabl.com.au/documents/2011/05/23/19442424/1/2011-12_Australian_Baseball_League_Schedule_(3).pdf. Retrieved 29 May 2011. 
  7. ^ "Adelaide Bite Homepage". Adelaide Bite. Australian Baseball League. http://web.theabl.com.au/index.jsp?sid=t4064. Retrieved 9 November 2010. 
  8. ^ "Brisbane Bandits Homepage". Brisbane Bandits. Australian Baseball League. http://web.theabl.com.au/index.jsp?sid=t4065. Retrieved 9 November 2010. 
  9. ^ "Canberra Cavalry Homepage". Canberra Cavalry. Australian Baseball League. http://web.theabl.com.au/index.jsp?sid=t4066. Retrieved 9 November 2010. 
  10. ^ "Melbourne Aces Homepage". Melbourne Aces. Australian Baseball League. http://web.theabl.com.au/index.jsp?sid=t4067. Retrieved 9 November 2010. 
  11. ^ "Perth Heat Homepage". Perth Heat. Australian Baseball League. http://web.theabl.com.au/index.jsp?sid=t4068. Retrieved 9 November 2010. 
  12. ^ "Sydney Blue Sox Homepage". Sydney Blue Sox. Australian Baseball League. http://web.theabl.com.au/index.jsp?sid=t4069. Retrieved 9 November 2010. 
  13. ^ "Blacktown Olympic Park has new name". The Castle Hill News (Sydney: Fairfax Media). 28 June 2011. http://www.hillsnews.com.au/news/local/news/general/blacktown-olympic-park-has-new-name/2208074.aspx. Retrieved 2 July 2011. 
  14. ^ Romano, Ross (3 November 2011). "Increased International Presence to Be Felt in 2011". Australian Baseball League. http://web.theabl.com.au/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111103&content_id=25880626&vkey=news_l595&fext=.jsp&sid=l595. Retrieved 17 November 2011. "Over 40 International Players Will Represent 11 Nations" 
  15. ^ "Australian Baseball League Standings". Australian Baseball League. http://web.theabl.com.au/stats/stats.jsp?t=l_sta&lid=595&sid=l595. Retrieved 13 November 2011. 
  16. ^ "League Batting Leaders". Australian Baseball League. http://web.theabl.com.au/stats/stats.jsp?y=2011&t=l_bat&lid=595&sid=l595. Retrieved 13 November 2011. 
  17. ^ "League Pitching Leaders". Australian Baseball League. http://web.theabl.com.au/stats/stats.jsp?y=2011&t=l_pit&lid=595&sid=l595. Retrieved 13 November 2011. 
  18. ^ a b Savage, Dan; Romano, Ross (8 November 2011). "Round 1 Players of the Week selected". Australian Baseball League. http://web.theabl.com.au/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111108&content_id=25932502&vkey=news_l595&fext=.jsp&sid=l595. Retrieved 9 November 2011. "Tolisano, Moore take ABL's first weekly honors of 2011/12" 
  19. ^ a b Romano, Ross (15 November 2011). "Cavs McGuire, Nohara earn Rd. Two honours". Australian Baseball League. http://web.theabl.com.au/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111115&content_id=25966506&vkey=news_l595&fext=.jsp&sid=l595. Retrieved 16 November 2011. "McGuire set ABL single-game strikeout record in second series" 
  20. ^ a b Romano, Ross (21 November 2011). "Graham, Ungs named players of the week". Australian Baseball League. http://web.theabl.com.au/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111121&content_id=26015226&vkey=news_l595&fext=.jsp&sid=l595. Retrieved 23 November 2011. "Ungs nearly treated Melbourne fans to the second no-hitter in the ABL's brief history" 

External links

2011–12 ABL season
2011 Asia Series • 2012 Postseason
Seasons
2010–11 • 2011–12
Clubs
 
Seasons
Clubs