2012–13 Australian Baseball League season

2012–13
Australian Baseball League
Season details
Sport Baseball
Country  Australia
Teams 6
Dates 1 November 2012 – 9 February 2013
Defending champions Perth Heat (2011–12)
Champions Canberra Cavalry (1st title)
Final positions
Champions Canberra Cavalry
Second place Perth Heat
Third place Sydney Blue Sox
Fourth place Brisbane Bandits
Fifth place Adelaide Bite
Sixth place Melbourne Aces
Regular season
Games played 122
Attendance 129,909  (1,065 per game)
Best batting average Adam Buschini (CAN) (.363)
Most homeruns hit Adam Buschini (CAN) (15)
Most stolen bases Zachary Penprase (SYD) (16)
Best ERA Craig Anderson (SYD) (2.10)
Most strikeouts (as pitcher) Chris Oxspring (SYD) (86)


Last updated on 27 January 2013

The 2012–13 Australian Baseball League season was the third Australian Baseball League (ABL) season, and was held from 1 November 2012 to 9 February 2013. The season started with a game between the defending champions Perth Heat and the Adelaide Bite at Norwood Oval in Adelaide.

The season consisted of six teams competing in a 46-game schedule followed by a two-round postseason to determine the ABL champion. During the regular season, the Perth Heat participated in the 2012 Asia Series which included the host team and champion team from Korea Baseball Championship in South Korea, the champions from Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan and Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan, and an all-star team from China Baseball League in China. The 2012–13 champions will likewise qualify for the 2013 Asia Series.

At the conclusion of the regular season, the Canberra Cavalry, the Sydney Blue Sox and the Perth Heat progressed to the postseason. Sydney were eliminated by Perth, to face Canberra in the championship series. Canberra defeated Perth two games to nil to win their first ABL championship and be awarded the Claxton Shield. It was the first time a team from the Australian Capital Territory won the Claxton Shield.

Changes from 2011–12 season

Regular season schedule

The previous season included 45 games for each team and facing each team nine times. This was expanded for the 2012–13 season to 46 games, to ensure that each team had the same number of home games as road games (23). This change also meant that each team did not play each other team an equal number of times. In the first three rounds, each team had a bye for one round and played one home and one away series of three games each, played "... against their two closest geographical neighbours; building upon both traditional and newly established rivalries."[1] The remaining ten rounds were made up of four–game series with each team playing two series against the five other teams, one at home and one away.[2]

Postseason structure

In previous seasons, the postseason had followed the Page playoff system, with the top four teams participating over three weeks. However, in the 2012-13 season only the top three teams qualified for a two-week postseason. The team that finished first—the Canberra Cavalry—earned a direct entry into the ABL championship series and the right to host the series. The second- and third-placed teams—the Sydney Blue Sox and the Perth Heat respectively—are playing in the preliminary final series hosted by the higher finishing team. The winner of that series will qualify for the championship series.[3] Reduced from five games in the semi-final and preliminary final series in 2012, all rounds of the 2013 postseason are being held as best–of–three game series.[4]

Teams

Teams in the ABL
Team City State Stadium Ref
Adelaide Bite Adelaide South Australia Norwood Oval [5]
Brisbane Bandits Brisbane Queensland Brisbane Exhibition Ground [6]
Canberra Cavalry Canberra Australian Capital Territory Narrabundah Ballpark [7]
Melbourne Aces Melbourne Victoria Melbourne Ballpark [8]
Perth Heat Perth Western Australia Baseball Park [9]
Sydney Blue Sox Sydney New South Wales Blue Sox Stadium [10]

Venues

Each of the six teams return from the previous season, and five of them will continue to use the same grounds for their home games. The sole exception is the Melbourne Aces, that played at the Melbourne Ballpark in the south-eastern suburb of Altona.[11] As part of the move from the Aces former home, the Melbourne Showgrounds, A$290,000 worth of improvements were made prior to the start of the season, including A$200,000 investment from the Victorian state government.[12] The ground was the home ground of the Melbourne Monarchs and the Melbourne Bushrangers in the former ABL.[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. These squads will be confirmed by each of the teams before the beginning of the season.

Regular season

Key
† Clinched Championship Series berth
‡ Clinched postseason berth
2012–13 regular season standings
Team[14]
W L Pct. GB Home Road
Canberra Cavalry† 27 19 .587 – 14–9 13–10
Sydney Blue Sox‡ 26 19 .578 0.5 13–9 13–10
Perth Heat‡ 25 21 .543 2.0 13–10 12–11
Brisbane Bandits 23 22 .511 3.5 15–8 8–14
Adelaide Bite 21 25 .457 6.0 12–10 9–14
Melbourne Aces 15 31 .326 12.0 11–12 4–19
Notes

    Statistical leaders

    Batting leaders
    Stat Player[S 1] Team Total
    AVG Adam Buschini Canberra Cavalry .363
    HR Adam Buschini Canberra Cavalry 15
    RBI Adam Buschini Canberra Cavalry 50
    R
    Adam Buschini
    Kody Hightower
    		 Canberra Cavalry 37
    H Mitch Dening Sydney Blue Sox 59
    SB Zachary Penprase Sydney Blue Sox 16
    Pitching leaders
    Stat Player[S 2] Team Total
    W Craig Anderson Sydney Blue Sox 8
    L Paul Mildren Adelaide Bite 7
    ERA Craig Anderson Sydney Blue Sox 2.10
    K Chris Oxspring Sydney Blue Sox 86
    IP Craig Anderson Sydney Blue Sox  81 1⁄3
    SV Matthew Williams Sydney Blue Sox 15

    1. ↑ Minimum 2.7 PAs per team game. Correct as of 27 January 2013.[15]
    2. ↑ Minimum 0.8 IP per team game. Correct as of 27 January 2013.[16]

    Postseason

    As part of the changes from previous seasons where the top four teams qualified for the postseason, in the 2012–13 season only three teams will qualify for a two round postseason. The highest placed team at the end of the regular season will automatically gain entry to and will host the championship series. The other place will be determined by a preliminary final series between the second and third placed teams, hosted by the second placed team.[3]

    It was announced on 21 December 2012 that should the Canberra Cavalry and Sydney Blue Sox be scheduled to play each other in the preliminary final series, instead of the higher placed team hosting the full series, the teams would share the hosting responsibilities. The higher placed team would host the first and, if necessary, third games. The second game would be played at the lower placed team's home ground. No indication was given in the announcement that it would also apply for the championship series.[17]

      Preliminary Final Series     Championship Series
                     
        1 Canberra Cavalry 2
      2 Sydney Blue Sox 0     WP Perth Heat 0
      3 Perth Heat 2  

    Preliminary final series

    2 February
    Game 1 (Postponed from 1 February)    		 Sydney Blue Sox 1 – 4 Perth Heat New South Wales Blue Sox Stadium, Sydney
    Attendance: 794
    Umpires: HP: Paul Hyham, 1B: Trent Thomas, 2B: Luke Goldsmith, 3B: Bob Crawford
    Boxscore
    2 February
    Game 2    		 Sydney Blue Sox 6 – 8 Perth Heat New South Wales Blue Sox Stadium, Sydney
    Attendance: 1212
    Umpires: HP: Trent Thomas, 1B: Paul Hyham, 2B: Bob Crawford, 3B: Luke Goldsmith
    Boxscore

    Championship series

    8 February
    Game 1    		 Canberra Cavalry 6 – 4 Perth Heat Australian Capital Territory Narrabundah Ballpark, Canberra
    Attendance: 2,013
    Umpires: HP: Brett Robson, 1B: Paul Hyham, 2B: Greg Kent, 3B: Matthew Pearson, LF: Takahito Matsuda, RF: Barry Barnes
    Boxscore
    9 February
    Game 2    		 Canberra Cavalry 7 – 6 Perth Heat Australian Capital Territory Narrabundah Ballpark, Canberra
    Attendance: 2,043
    Umpires: HP: Paul Hyham, 1B: Brett Robson, 2B: Matthew Pearson, 3B: Takahito Matsuda, LF: Barry Barnes, RF: Greg Kent
    Boxscore

    Awards

    Player of the Week award winners
    Round Player[18] Team
    1 K.C. Hobson Canberra Cavalry
    2 Elliot Biddle Melbourne Aces
    3 Carlo Testa Melbourne Aces
    4 Cody Clark Brisbane Bandits
    5 Angus Roeger Adelaide Bite
    6 Justin Howard Adelaide Bite
    7 Kody Hightower Canberra Cavalry
    8 Ji-Man Choi Adelaide Bite
    9 Ryan Stovall Canberra Cavalry
    10 Adam Buschini Canberra Cavalry
    11 C.J. Beatty Brisbane Bandits
    12 Trent D'Antonio Sydney Blue Sox
    13 Adam Buschini Canberra Cavalry
    Pitcher of the Week award winners
    Round Player[18] Team
    1 Chris Oxspring Sydney Blue Sox
    2 Chris Oxspring Sydney Blue Sox
    3 Chris Smith Brisbane Bandits
    4 Chris Oxspring Sydney Blue Sox
    5 Anthony Claggett Perth Heat
    6 Sean Toler Canberra Cavalry
    7 Chris Smith Brisbane Bandits
    8 Craig Anderson Sydney Blue Sox
    9 Chris Smith Brisbane Bandits
    10 Adam Bright Melbourne Aces
    11 Matthew Williams Sydney Blue Sox
    12 Dushan Ruzic Adelaide Bite
    13 Jack Frawley Perth Heat

    References

    1. ↑ Whitaker, Terry (1 June 2012). "ABL announces 2012/13 season schedule". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 2 February 2013. Circuit's third season features record 138 games
    2. ↑ "2012/13 Game Schedule" (PDF). Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
    3. 1 2 "Playoff Procedures". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
    4. ↑ "2013 Postseason Bracket". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
    5. ↑ "Adelaide Bite Homepage". Adelaide Bite. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
    6. ↑ "Brisbane Bandits Homepage". Brisbane Bandits. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
    7. ↑ "Canberra Cavalry Homepage". Canberra Cavalry. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 8 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
    8. ↑ "Melbourne Aces Homepage". Melbourne Aces. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
    9. ↑ "Perth Heat Homepage". Perth Heat. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
    10. ↑ "Sydney Blue Sox Homepage". Sydney Blue Sox. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
    11. ↑ "Aces New Home is the Melbourne Ballpark". Melbourne Aces. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2012. ABL Team Moves to Laverton with Added Improvements to Grounds
    12. ↑ "Melbourne Aces 2012-13 season launch at the revitalised Melbourne Ballpark" (PDF) (Press release). Government of Victoria. 10 November 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
    13. ↑ Collins, Kingsley (16 October 2012). "Ballpark treated to major makeover". Baseball Victoria. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
    14. ↑ "2012 Australian Baseball League Current Standings". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
    15. ↑ "League Batting Leaders". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
    16. ↑ "League Pitching Leaders". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
    17. ↑ "Format confirmed for 2013 ABL Postseason". Australian Baseball League. 21 December 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2013. As of today, Canberra would host Sydney in opener
    18. 1 2 "2012/13 Delta Air Lines Players of the Week". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
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