2018–19 Australian Baseball League season

The 2018–19 Australian Baseball League season was the ninth year Australian Baseball League (ABL) season, and was held from 15 November 2018 to 2 February 2019. It was the first season that it was played with eight teams, as the league expanded for the first time. The Brisbane Bandits won the championship for the fourth consecutive season.

2018–19
Australian Baseball League

Season details
Sport	Baseball
Country	Australia
Teams	8
Dates	15 November 2018 – 3 February 2019
Defending champions	Brisbane Bandits (2017–18)
Champions	Brisbane Bandits (4th title)
Helms Award	Timothy Kennelly Marcus Solbach
Final positions
Champions	Brisbane Bandits
Second place	Perth Heat
Third place	Sydney Blue Sox
Fourth place	Canberra Cavalry
Fifth place	Melbourne Aces
Sixth place	Adelaide Bite
Seventh place	Auckland Tuatara
Eighth place	Geelong-Korea
Regular season
Games played	160
Best batting average	Michael Fransoso (.430)
Most homeruns hit	T.J Bennett (13)
Most stolen bases	DJ Burt (18)
Best ERA	Shota Imanaga (0.51)
Most strikeouts (as pitcher)	Alex Maestri (78)
← 2017–18 2019–20 →

Teams

Tuatara

Bandits

Blue Sox

Cavalry

Geelong-Korea

Aces

Heat

Giants

Teams in the ABL

Team	State / Territory	Stadium
Adelaide Bite	South Australia	Diamond Sports Stadium[1]
Auckland Tuatara	New Zealand	McLeod Park[2]
Brisbane Bandits	Queensland	Holloway Field[3]
Canberra Cavalry	Australian Capital Territory	Narrabundah Ballpark[4]
Geelong-Korea	Victoria	Geelong Baseball Park[5]
Melbourne Aces	Victoria	Melbourne Ballpark[6]
Perth Heat	Western Australia	Baseball Park[7]
Sydney Blue Sox	New South Wales	Blue Sox Stadium[8]

Regular season

With the addition of the Auckland Tuatara and Geelong-Korea as expansion teams, the competition was split into a 'Northeast' and 'Southwest' division. The league retained a 10-round, 40 game schedule, with teams playing division rivals eight times and inter division teams four times.

Key

	Secured Semi Finals berth
	Secured Wild Card berth

Northeast Division[9]

Pos	Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Away
1	Brisbane Bandits	25	15	.625	1.0	12–8	13–7
2	Sydney Blue Sox	25	15	.625	–	14–6	11–
3	Canberra Cavalry	23	17	.575	2.0	13–7	10–10
4	Auckland Tuatara	14	26	.350	11.0	8–12	6–14

Southwest Division[9]

Pos	Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Away
1	Perth Heat	24	16	.600	–	12–8	12–8
2	Melbourne Aces	23	17	.575	1.0	14–6	9–11
3	Adelaide Bite	19	21	.475	5.0	10–10	9–11
4	Geelong-Korea	7	33	.175	17.0	4–16	3–17

Statistical leaders

Batting leaders Stat Player[S 1] Team Total AVG Gift Ngoepe Sydney Blue Sox .437 HR T.J. Bennett Brisbane Bandits 13 RBI Tristan Gray Perth Heat 41 R Tristan Gray Tim Kennelly Perth Heat Perth Heat 38 H Dwayne Kemp Sydney Blue Sox 55 SB D.J. Burt Melbourne Aces 18

Pitching leaders Stat Player[S 2] Team Total W Tim Atherton Josh Guyer Steve Kent Brisbane Bandits Sydney Blue Sox Canberra Cavalry 7 L Jin-U Kim Geelong-Korea 8 ERA Shota Imanaga Canberra Cavalry 0.51 K Alex Maestri Sydney Blue Sox 78 IP Markus Solbach Adelaide Bite 65⅓ SV Todd Van Steensel Sydney Blue Sox 10

1. Minimum 2.7 PAs per team game.[10]
2. Minimum 0.8 IP per team game. [11]

Postseason

A new playoff structure was announced 29 August 2018 with the addition of a single wild card game between the fourth and fifth seeds prior to two rounds of best-of-three finals series.

The top seed awarded to the team with the best regular season record, with the other division winner awarded the second seed. The third and fourth seed were awarded to the two divisional runner ups with the fifth seed being given to the team with the next best season record. [12]

	Wild Card					Semi Finals Series					Championship Series
						1	Brisbane Bandits	2
	4	Melbourne Aces	0			5	Canberra Cavalry	1
	5	Canberra Cavalry	1								1	Brisbane Bandits	2
											2	Perth Heat	0
						2	Perth Heat	2
						3	Sydney Blue Sox	1

Championship Series

31 January 2019 19:00 (UTC+08:00) Game 1	Perth Heat	2-3	Brisbane Bandits	Baseball Park, Perth Attendance: 2,870 Umpires: HP: Brett Robson. 1B: Paul Latta. 2B: Ryan Harder. 3B: Tom West. LF: Peter Bowie. RF: Lou Bonomi.
	LP: John Anderson (0-1)	Boxscore	WP: Ryan Bollinger (1-0) Sv: Ryan Searle (1)

02 February 2019 18:00 (UTC+10:00) Game 2	Brisbane Bandits	9-4	Perth Heat	Holloway Field, Brisbane Attendance: 2,304 Umpires: HP: Paul Latta. 1B: Ryan Harder. 2B: Tom West. 3B: Brett Robson. LF: James Shields. RF: Gavin Carson.
	WP: Tim Atherton (1-0)	Boxscore	LP: Connor Lourey (0-1)
	HR: T.J Bennett (1), Wade Dutton (1), Andrew Campbell (1)		HR: Pete Kozma (1), Robbie Glendenning 2 (2), Chris Clare (1)

References

1. "Adelaide Bite Homepage". Adelaide Bite. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
2. "Auckland Tuatara Homepage". Auckland Tuatara. Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
3. "Brisbane Bandits Homepage". Brisbane Bandits. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
4. "Canberra Cavalry Homepage". Canberra Cavalry. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 8 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
5. "Geelong-Korea Homepage". Geelong-Korea. Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
6. "Melbourne Aces Homepage". Melbourne Aces. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
7. "Perth Heat Homepage". Perth Heat. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
8. "Sydney Blue Sox Homepage". Sydney Blue Sox. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
9. "2016 Australian Baseball League Final Standings". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
10. "League Batting Leaders". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
11. "League Pitching Leaders". Australian Baseball League. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
12. New-look playoff structure revealed

External links

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