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2011–12 Australian Baseball League season

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Template:Infobox Australian baseball season

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

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 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

Template:2011–12 ABL standings

Statistical leaders

  1. ^ Minimum 2.7 PAs per team game. Correct as of 23 January 2012.[15]
  2. ^ Minimum 0.8 IP per team game. Correct as of 23 January 2012.[16]

Postseason

See also: 2012 Australian Baseball League 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.[17]

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

Awards

Season award winners
Award Player Team Ref
Helms Award (League MVP) Tim Kennelly Perth Heat [19]
Championship Series MVP Virgil Vasquez Perth Heat [20]
Golden Glove Allan de San Miguel Perth Heat [21]
Pitcher of the Year Warwick Saupold Perth Heat [21]
Relief Pitcher of the Year Benn Grice Perth Heat [21]
Rookie of the Year Aidan Francis Sydney Blue Sox [21]
Silver Slugger Brian Burgamy Canberra Cavalry [21]

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 24 May 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2011. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  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. 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. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ a b Sedgman, Cassandra (23 May 2011). "2011/12 ABL Game Schedule" (PDF). Australian Baseball League. 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. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ "Brisbane Bandits Homepage". Brisbane Bandits. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ "Canberra Cavalry Homepage". Canberra Cavalry. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 8 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Melbourne Aces Homepage". Melbourne Aces. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "Perth Heat Homepage". Perth Heat. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "Sydney Blue Sox Homepage". Sydney Blue Sox. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ "Blacktown Olympic Park has new name". The Castle Hill News. Sydney: Fairfax Media. 28 June 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. ^ "League Batting Leaders". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  16. ^ "League Pitching Leaders". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  17. ^ "2012 Postseason Schedule". Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 23 January 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  18. ^ a b "Weekly Award Winners". Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 24 January 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  19. ^ 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
  20. ^ Romano, Ross (13 February 2012). "Heat win Gm. 3 thriller, repeat as ABL champions". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 22 January 2013. Perth outlasts Melbourne in 13 exciting innings
  21. ^ a b c d e Romano, Ross (8 February 2012). "ABL announces season awards winners". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
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