The 2022–23 Australian Baseball League season was the twelfth season of the

Australian Baseball League The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it sh ...

(ABL). After the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

cancelled the 2021–22 season and reduced the 2020–21 season to six teams, this season was the first in three years not to feel the

impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the most significant disruption to the worldwide sporting calendar since World War II. Across the world and to varying degrees, sports events have been cancelled or postponed. The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo w ...

. The regular season began on and concluded on with the

Adelaide Giants The Adelaide Giants are a professional baseball team that plays in the Australian Baseball League. They are one of the six foundation franchises of the league, in its first incarnation from 1989 to 1999. The team adopted the name Bite or Adelaid ...

winning the

Claxton Shield The Claxton Shield was the name of the premier baseball competition in Australia held between state-based teams, as well as the name of the trophy awarded to the champion team. From the summer of 1989–90 until 2001–02, and again since 2010� ...

over the

Perth Heat The Perth Heat is a baseball team in the current Australian Baseball League and a foundation member of the Australian Baseball League. It is now the most successful team in ABL, winning 15 Claxton Shields. Australian Baseball League (1989–19 ...

Teams

Both the

Auckland Tuatara The Auckland Tuatara is a professional baseball team in the Australian Baseball League based in Auckland, New Zealand. They are the only team from New Zealand to compete in the ABL, and one of two expansion teams that entered the league in the ...

and

Geelong-Korea The Geelong-Korea are a professional baseball team in the Australian Baseball League. The team is based in the city of Geelong, Victoria and the team's home ground is Geelong Baseball Park. Geelong-Korea were one of two expansion teams added to ...

returned to the competition for the first time since the 2019–20 Australian Baseball League season. The Tuatara purchased the National Basketball League team the Auckland Huskies, who now go by the same name.

Regular season

The league returned to a 10-round, 40 game schedule, with teams playing division rivals eight times and inter-division teams four times. Auckland, Brisbane, Canberra and Sydney grouped into the "Northeast Division" with Adelaide, Geelong, Melbourne and Perth grouped into the "Southwest Division". Scheduled doubleheaders consist of a seven inning game followed by a nine inning game. The league uses the WBSC tiebreaker rule for all games going beyond the 9th inning, or

extra innings Extra innings is the extension of a baseball or softball game in order to break a tie. Ordinarily, a baseball game consists of nine regulation innings (in softball and high school baseball games there are typically seven innings; in Little Lea ...

beginning less than one hour before a curfew.

Baxter Field Baxter International Baseball Field or the Albert Park Baseball Complex is home to the Far North Coast Baseball Association (FNCBA), part of Baseball NSW, in Lismore, New South Wales. It is a fully fenced and regulation size field with field l ...

was previously announced to be hosting the first

Australian Baseball League All-Star Game The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it sh ...

since 2017, but was delayed due to the damage caused by the 2022 eastern Australia floods. Milestones during the regular season included

Tim Atherton Timothy Ian Atherton (born 7 November 1989) is an Australian professional baseball player for the Brisbane Bandits of the Australian Baseball League. Career Atherton has played four seasons with the Canberra Cavalry, one season for the Syd ...

becoming the first pitcher to 400 strikeouts. The first

Canberra Cavalry The Canberra Cavalry (nicknamed Cavs) is a professional baseball team from Canberra, ACT, Australia. Established in 2010, the team is a founding member of the Australian Baseball League (ABL). The Cavs home ground is Narrabundah Ballpark, kno ...

player to 300 games for

Robbie Perkins Robert Perkins (born 29 May 1994) is an Australian professional baseball catcher for the Canberra Cavalry of the Australian Baseball League. Career Perkins plays in the Australian Baseball League for the Canberra Cavalry. He signed a minor leagu ...

and the first

Brisbane Bandits The Brisbane Bandits are a professional baseball team in Brisbane, Queensland that plays in the Australian Baseball League and is one of the six founding teams of the league. From the 2010/11 season till the 2012/13 season their home ballpark w ...

player to 350 games for Andrew Campbell. The

broke the win streak record with 12 games between 24 November and 10 December 2022.

Trent D'Antonio Trent M. D'Antonio (born 14 August 1985) is an Australian professional baseball utility player for the Sydney Blue Sox of the Australian Baseball League. He has previously played for the Florida Marlins organization. He is the all-time leader fo ...

broke the record for most career appearances on 8 January 2023 with 387 games. Dae-sung Koo who held the record for the oldest player to play in the ABL when he pitched an inning for

at age 48 in 2018, came back out of retirement to break his own record, pitching a scoreless inning against at age 53. T.J. Bennett broke the single-season homerun record with 17 homeruns, a record he previously held with 16 alongside

Kellin Deglan Kellin Lee Deglan (born May 3, 1992) is a Canadian professional baseball catcher who is currently a free agent. He was drafted out of R.E. Mountain Secondary School in the 2010 Major League Baseball draft by the Texas Rangers. Career Texas Ran ...

and Donald Lutz.

Standings

The game between Canberra Cavalry and Sydney Blue Sox scheduled for Sunday 23 January was rained out before play could begin. Because that was the last Sunday of the regular season, the game could not be rescheduled, and both teams were awarded a half win per the League's rules.

Statistical leaders

Awards

Postseason

The playoffs will see four teams compete in two rounds. The semi-final round saw the winner of each division host the runner-up of the other division in a best-of-three series. The winners of each semi-final will compete in a best-of-three final round, with the first game being hosted by the lower seed and the remaining games hosted by the higher seed. This format is similar to that used for the season.

Semi-Final: Brisbane Bandits (NE1) vs Perth Heat (SW2)

Brisbane Bandits hosted Perth Heat for a best-of-three semi-final at Viticon Stadium (Holloway Field). Brisbane won the first game, but Perth won the remaining two to secure a place in the finals.

Semi-Final: Adelaide Giants (SW1) vs Auckland Tuatara (NE2)

Adelaide Giants hosted Auckland Tuatara for a best-of-three semi-final at Diamond Sports Stadium. Game 2 was postponed and moved to the next day due to rain, resulting in double-header being played. Adelaide won the first and third games to secure a place in the final against Perth.

Final: Adelaide Giants (SW1) vs Perth Heat (SW2)

Adelaide Giants and Perth Heat played a best-of-three final. The first game was hosted by Perth at Empire Ballpark, and the remaining games were hosted by Adelaide at Diamond Sports Stadium. Adelaide and Perth last faced each other in the final of the 2014–15 Australian Baseball League season, when Perth won the

. Despite Adelaide making the final four times since the ABL's inaugural season in 2010–11, a team from South Australia has not won the Claxton Shield since 1980. Perth won the first game, but Adelaide won the second and third games and consequently the final, ending South Australia's 43-year Claxton Shield drought. Adelaide-born Jordan McArdle was named the Postseason MVP, hitting three home runs across in both of the Giants' Championship Series wins.

References

External links

The Australian Baseball League
– Official ABL Website
Official Baseball Australia Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2021-22 Australian Baseball League season Australian Baseball League seasons

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...