The 2011–12 Australian Baseball League season is the second

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 s ...

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

and the Adelaide Bite at

Baseball Park A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into two field sections called the infield and the outfield. The infield is an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined in part ba ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, but the game was postponed due to wet weather. 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 South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. The 2011–12 champions will likewise qualify for the 2012 Asia Series. At the conclusion of the regular season, the

Melbourne Aces The Melbourne Aces are a professional baseball team based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia that competed in the Australian Baseball League. Their home field is the Melbourne Ballpark in Altona. History On 20 August 2010 it was announced ...

, Adelaide Bite and

Sydney Blue Sox The Sydney Blue Sox are a professional baseball team, and one of six founding teams in the re-formed Australian Baseball League (ABL). The team plays their home games at Blacktown International Sportspark (BISP), one of the two venues used fo ...

progressed to the finals series, while the

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 ...

and

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

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. The event had previously been contested between the winners of

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

's (NPB)

Japan Series The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series between the winning cl ...

Korea Professional Baseball The KBO League () is a professional baseball league in South Korea. The league comprises ten teams. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers are the most succes ...

's (KPB)

Korean Series The Korean Series () is the final championship series of the KBO League. It has been held since the KBO League's first season in and is the final series of the post-season play-offs. From to 2013, the winner of the Korean Series went on to play ...

Chinese Professional Baseball League The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 20 ...

's (CPBL)

Taiwan Series The Taiwan Series () is the final championship series of the Chinese Professional Baseball League The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 a ...

, and

China Baseball League The China Baseball League (, CBL) is a professional baseball league under the administration of Chinese Baseball Association, founded in 2002. The league suspended operations in 2012 due to financial troubles after the 2011 season, but retur ...

'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. 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

–2010–11 champions—would be scheduled to have a bye while competing in Taiwan.

Regular season schedule

The previous season included 40 games for each team and facing each team eight times, four at

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...

and four on the

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

. 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. 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

' bye was timed to line up with the tournament in round four, with the Adelaide Bite and

's bye in round three, and the

and

' bye in round five.

Teams

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.

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.

Regular season

Statistical leaders

All-Star Game

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 ConocoPhillips Company is an American multinational corporation engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production. It is based in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas. The company has operations in 15 countries and has production in t ...

, was the first exhibition game held by the

(ABL) between

Team Australia Team Australia was an auto racing team competing in the V8 Supercars and Champ Car World Series. It was created in early 2005 when two Australian businessmen Craig Gore and John Fish bought into Derrick Walker's Walker Racing operation. Aft ...

and a team of World All-Stars. The game was held on Wednesday, 21 December 2011 at

Perth, Western Australia Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, home of the

. 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. Tyler Collins,

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

for the World All-Stars won the game's Most Valuable Player award.

Starting lineups

Box score

Postseason

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. 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.

Bracket

Qualification

The

were the first team to clinch a postseason position when they defeated the

on 8 January, and then clinched a first place finish in their next game when they defeated the

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

on 12 January. The three remaining positions in the postseason, and the teams that would take them, were not determined until the last game was finished. The

finished a half-game ahead of a four-way tie between the Adelaide Bite, Brisbane Bandits, Canberra Cavalry and

to secure the remaining spot in the major semi-final. The Bite and the Blue Sox finished third and fourth respectively after the ABL's

tiebreaker In games and sport, a tiebreaker or tiebreak is any method used to determine a winner or to rank participants when there is a tie - meaning two or more parties have achieved a same score or result. A tiebreaker provides the additional criterion ...

s were applied. 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.

Awards

References

External links

The Australian Baseball League
– Official ABL Website
Official Baseball Australia Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2011-12 Australian Baseball League season Australian Baseball League seasons 2012 in Australian sport Australian Baseball League season 2011 in Australian sport Australian Baseball League season