2012–13 Australian Baseball League season

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." 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.

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. 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.

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	Norwood Oval
Brisbane Bandits	Brisbane	Queensland	Brisbane Exhibition Ground
Canberra Cavalry	Canberra	Australian Capital Territory	Narrabundah Ballpark
Melbourne Aces	Melbourne	Victoria	Melbourne Ballpark
Perth Heat	Perth	Western Australia	Baseball Park
Sydney Blue Sox	Sydney	New South Wales	Blue Sox Stadium

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. 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. The ground was the home ground of the Melbourne Monarchs and the Melbourne Bushrangers in the former ABL.

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

Template:2012–13 ABL standings

Statistical leaders

Batting leaders

Stat	Player	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	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

Postseason

See also: 2013 Australian Baseball League 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.

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.

	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	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	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	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	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	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	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

External links

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