2011–12 Australian Baseball League season

2011–12
Australian Baseball League

Season details
Sport	Baseball
Country	Australia
Teams	6
Dates	4 November 2011 – 12 February 2012
Defending champions	Perth Heat (2010–11)
Champions	Perth Heat (2nd title)
Helms Award winner	Timothy Kennelly (PER)
Final positions
Champions	Perth Heat
Runners up	Melbourne Aces
Preliminary finalists	Sydney Blue Sox
Semi-finalists	Adelaide Bite
Fifth place	Brisbane Bandits
Sixth place	Canberra Cavalry
Regular season
Games played	118
Attendance	123,886  (1,050 per game)
Best batting average	(CAN) (.409)
Most homeruns hit	Brad Harman (MEL) (15)
Most stolen bases	Mychal Givens (PER) (15)
Best ERA	Warwick Saupold (PER) (1.41)
Most strikeouts (as pitcher)	Mike McGuire (CAN) (63)
← 2010–11 2012–13 → Last updated on 12 February 2012

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			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[]

Key Clinched major semi final berth Clinched minor semi final berth 2011–12 regular season standings Team[15] v t W L Pct. GB Home Road 1st Tiebreaker[S 1] 2nd Tiebreaker[S 2] Perth Heat 34 11 .756 – 15–8 19–3 Melbourne Aces 21 24 .467 13 12–11 9–13 Adelaide Bite 20 25 .444 14 10–12 10–13 16–11 (.593) Sydney Blue Sox 20 25 .444 14 14–8 6–17 13–14 (.481) 5–4 (.556) Brisbane Bandits 20 25 .444 14 11–11 9–14 13–14 (.481) 4–5 (.444) Canberra Cavalry 20 25 .444 14 11–12 9–13 12–15 (.444) Notes ^ 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.[16] ^ 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]

Statistical leaders[]

Postseason[]

At the completion of the regular season, the top four teams progressed to the postseason. It was contested over three weeks, following the Page playoff system. The first two stages were decided by a best-of-five game series. If the fifth game of any of these series were required, as was the case for the preliminary final series in the second round, they would be played as the second game of a doubleheader with the fourth game. The Championship Series was contested in a best-of-three game series.^[19]

Semi-Final Series

Premliminary Final Series

Championship Series

1st

Perth Heat

3

2nd

Melbourne Aces

1

1st

Perth Heat

2

2nd

Melbourne Aces

3

2nd

Melbourne Aces

1

4th

Sydney Blue Sox

2

3rd

Adelaide Bite

1

4th

Sydney Blue Sox

3

Awards[]

Season award winners

Award	Player	Team	Ref
Helms Award (League MVP)	Tim Kennelly	Perth Heat	[21]
Championship Series MVP	Virgil Vasquez	Perth Heat	[22]
Golden Glove	Allan de San Miguel	Perth Heat	[23]
Pitcher of the Year	Warwick Saupold	Perth Heat	[23]
Relief Pitcher of the Year		Perth Heat	[23]
Rookie of the Year		Sydney Blue Sox	[23]
Silver Slugger		Canberra Cavalry	[23]

References[]

External links[]

• The Australian Baseball League – Official ABL Website
• Official Baseball Australia Website