2011–12 Australian Baseball League season
LeagueAustralian Baseball League
SportBaseball
Duration4 November 2011 – 12 February 2012 (2011-11-04 – 2012-02-12)
Number of games118
Number of teams6
Total attendance123,886
Regular season
Season MVPTimothy Kennelly (PER)
Championship Series
VenueBaseball Park
ChampionsPerth Heat (2nd title)
  Runners-upMelbourne Aces

The 2011–12 Australian Baseball League season is the second Australian Baseball League (ABL) season, and is being held from 4 November 2011 to 12 February 2012. 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.

At the conclusion of the regular season, the Perth Heat, Melbourne Aces, Adelaide Bite and Sydney Blue Sox progressed to the finals series, while the Brisbane Bandits and Canberra Cavalry were only eliminated from contention on the final day of the season. The Sydney Blue Sox eliminated the Adelaide Bite in the first round of the postseason, who were in turn eliminated by the Melbourne Aces in the second round. The Perth Heat defeated the Aces two games to one in the championship series, to win back–to–back ABL championships.

Changes from 2010–11 season

Entry to 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 was 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 were nine games between each team. This also resulted 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 received a bye during the early rounds of the regular season. The Heat and Brisbane Bandits' bye was 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

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 returned from the previous season, and continued 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 had an active roster of 22 players available each round. These players were drawn from 35-man squads. Each team had several foreign players in their squad, and each team included at least one player from the United States. Not counting Australia, there were 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 11810
Brisbane Bandits 14218
Canberra Cavalry 51814
Melbourne Aces 1247
Perth Heat 1111
Sydney Blue Sox 11226

Regular season

Pos Team Pld W L PCT GB Qualification
1 Perth Heat 45 34 11 .756 — Advance to major semi final
2 Melbourne Aces 45 21 24 .467 13
3 Adelaide Bite 45 20 25 .444[lower-alpha 1] 14 Advance to minor semi final
4 Sydney Blue Sox 45 20 25 .444[lower-alpha 2] 14
5 Brisbane Bandits 45 20 25 .444[lower-alpha 3] 14
6 Canberra Cavalry 45 20 25 .444[lower-alpha 4] 14
Source: [15]
Rules for classification: Teams are ranked on winning percentage. In a multi-way tie, the winning percentage from games in head-to-head competition with the other tied teams is used as the first tiebreaker. In a multi-way tie, where after the first tiebreaker two teams are still tied, the winning percentage from games in head-to-head competition between the two tied teams is used as the second tiebreaker.[16]
Notes:
  1. ↑ 1st tiebreaker: 16–11 (.593)
  2. ↑ 1st tiebreaker: 13–14 (.481); 2nd tiebreaker: 5–4 (.556)
  3. ↑ 1st tiebreaker: 13–14 (.481); 2nd tiebreaker: 4–5 (.444)
  4. ↑ 1st tiebreaker: 12–15 (.444)

Statistical leaders

Batting leaders
Stat Player[S 1] Team Total
AVG Brian Burgamy Canberra Cavalry .409
HR Brad Harman Melbourne Aces 15
RBI Elliot Biddle Melbourne Aces 42
R Brian Burgamy Canberra Cavalry 41
H Brian Burgamy Canberra Cavalry 67
SB Mychal Givens Perth Heat 15
Pitching leaders
Stat Player[S 2] Team Total
W Daniel Schmidt Perth Heat 6
L Dushan Ruzic Adelaide Bite 5
ERA Warwick Saupold Perth Heat 1.41
K Mike McGuire Canberra Cavalry 63
IP Warwick Saupold Perth Heat 70
SV Koo Dae-Sung Sydney Blue Sox 8
  1. ↑ Minimum 2.7 PAs per team game. Correct as of 23 January 2012.[17]
  2. ↑ Minimum 0.8 IP per team game. Correct as of 23 January 2012.[18]

All-Star Game

2011 ABL All-Star Game
123456789RHE
World All-Stars1210003108150
Team Australia000003110592
Date21 December 2011
VenueBaseball Park
CityPerth
MVPUnited States Tyler Collins
Attendance2,884

The 2011 Australian Baseball League All-Star Game, known as the 2011 ConocoPhillips Australia ABL All-Star Game due to naming rights sponsorship from ConocoPhillips, was the first exhibition game held by the Australian Baseball League (ABL) between Team Australia and a team of World All-Stars. The game was held on Wednesday, 21 December 2011 at Baseball Park in Perth, Western Australia, home of the Perth Heat. The players involved were selected from the rosters of the six ABL teams, with players not eligible for selection in the Australian team for international tournaments eligible for the World All-Stars.

The World All-Stars defeated Team Australia 8–5.[19] Tyler Collins, designated hitter for the World All-Stars won the game's Most Valuable Player award.[20]

Starting lineups

Box score

21 December 2011 16:00 (UTC+08:00) at Baseball Park, Perth
Team123456789RHE
World All-Stars1210003108150
Team Australia000003110592
WP: (WAS) Mike McGuire (1–0)   LP: (AUS) Shane Lindsay (0–1)   Sv: Koo Dae-Sung (1)
Home runs:
WAS: Tyler Collins (1), Denny Almonte (1)
AUS: Joshua Roberts (1)
Attendance: 2,884
Boxscore

Postseason

2012 ABL Postseason logo

Format

At the conclusion of the regular season, the postseason involved the teams in a three-round structure. The first- and second-place teams played each other in the major semi-final, the winner of which proceeded directly to the championship series and the loser to the preliminary final. The winner of the minor semi-final between the third- and fourth-place teams also qualified for the preliminary final, while the loser was eliminated. Likewise, the winner of the preliminary final qualified for the championship series, the loser being eliminated.[21] Unlike the previous postseason, where each round consisted of a best-of-three game series, both of the semi-finals and the preliminary final will be played out over best-of-five game series. The championship series once again used a best-of-three game format.[22]

Bracket

Semi-Final SeriesPremliminary Final SeriesChampionship Series
1st Perth Heat31st Perth Heat2
2nd Melbourne Aces12nd Melbourne Aces1
2nd Melbourne Aces3
4th Sydney Blue Sox2
3rd Adelaide Bite1
4th Sydney Blue Sox3

Qualification

The Perth Heat were the first team to clinch a postseason position when they defeated the Brisbane Bandits in Perth on 8 January, and then clinched a first place finish in their next game when they defeated the Canberra Cavalry in Canberra on 12 January.[23] The three remaining positions in the postseason, and the teams that would take them, were not determined until the last game was finished. The Melbourne Aces finished a half-game ahead of a four-way tie between the Adelaide Bite, Brisbane Bandits, Canberra Cavalry and Sydney Blue Sox to secure the remaining spot in the major semi-final.[24] The Bite and the Blue Sox finished third and fourth respectively after the ABL's tiebreakers were applied.[25]

Until only a few hours before their final game of the season, Cavalry officials believed that regardless of the result in the game they would progress to the postseason based on their interpretation of the tiebreaking procedures. However they were informed by the League that was not the case. Canberra's interpretation was that once Adelaide were determined as having finished third, a separate tiebreaker would be held between themselves, Brisbane and Sydney and excluding Adelaide, which would have result in Canberra progressing. The actual process used was to continue with the next level of the tiebreaker as Brisbane and Sydney as they were still level after using the head-to-head records between the four teams. As Sydney had won their season series with Brisbane 5-4, Sydney claimed the final postseason position, Brisbane were left in fifth place, and Canberra in sixth.[26]

Awards

Season award winners
Award Player Team Ref
Helms Award (League MVP) Tim Kennelly Perth Heat [28]
Championship Series MVP Virgil Vasquez Perth Heat [29]
Golden Glove Allan de San Miguel Perth Heat [30]
Pitcher of the Year Warwick Saupold Perth Heat [30]
Relief Pitcher of the Year Benn Grice Perth Heat [30]
Rookie of the Year Aidan Francis Sydney Blue Sox [30]
Silver Slugger Brian Burgamy Canberra Cavalry [30]

References

  1. ↑ "Postponement of 2011-12 ABL Opening Day". Australian Baseball League. 3 November 2011. 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 27 September 2012. 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. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
  4. ↑ Schroder, Mark (18 May 2011). "ABL Champions To Battle Asia's Best". Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 21 May 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
  5. ↑ "2010–11 Australian Baseball League Schedule" (PDF). Australian Baseball League. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
  6. 1 2 Sedgman, Cassandra (23 May 2011). "2011/12 ABL Game Schedule" (PDF). Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
  7. ↑ "Adelaide Bite Homepage". Adelaide Bite. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  8. ↑ "Brisbane Bandits Homepage". Brisbane Bandits. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  9. ↑ "Canberra Cavalry Homepage". Canberra Cavalry. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 8 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  10. ↑ "Melbourne Aces Homepage". Melbourne Aces. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  11. ↑ "Perth Heat Homepage". Perth Heat. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  12. ↑ "Sydney Blue Sox Homepage". Sydney Blue Sox. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  13. ↑ "Blacktown Olympic Park has new name". The Castle Hill News. Sydney: Fairfax Media. 28 June 2011. Archived from the original on 5 July 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  14. ↑ Romano, Ross (3 November 2011). "Increased International Presence to Be Felt in 2011". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 17 November 2011. Over 40 International Players Will Represent 11 Nations
  15. ↑ "Australian Baseball League Standings". Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 3 November 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  16. ↑ "Playoff Procedures". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  17. ↑ "League Batting Leaders". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  18. ↑ "League Pitching Leaders". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  19. ↑ "2011 ABL All-Star Game Boxscore". Australian Baseball League. 21 December 2011. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  20. ↑ "World team tops Aussie stars Down Under". Major League Baseball. 21 December 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  21. ↑ "2012 Postseason Bracket". Australian Baseball League. 24 January 2012. Archived from the original on 21 January 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  22. ↑ "2012 Postseason Schedule". Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 21 January 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  23. ↑ Higgins, Dylan (12 January 2012). "Heat officially #1 after win in Canberra". Perth Heat. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
  24. ↑ "League Standings". Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 15 January 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
  25. ↑ "Playoff Procedures". Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 29 January 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
  26. ↑ Gaskin, Lee (25 January 2012). "Cavalry accepts ruling on playoffs". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
  27. 1 2 "Weekly Award Winners". Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 15 January 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  28. ↑ ABL Staff (26 February 2012). "Tim Kennelly honoured with 2012 Helms Award". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 22 January 2013. Perth slugger becomes 40th winner of prestigious award
  29. ↑ Romano, Ross (13 February 2012). "Heat win Gm. 3 thriller, repeat as ABL champions". Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 19 June 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2013. Perth outlasts Melbourne in 13 exciting innings
  30. 1 2 3 4 5 Romano, Ross (8 February 2012). "ABL announces season awards winners". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
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