2010–11 Australian Baseball League season
The 2010–11 Australian Baseball League season was the inaugural Australian Baseball League season, and was held from 6 November 2010 to 13 February 2011. It came 12 years after the old Australian Baseball League ceased and is the successor of the mostly amateur Claxton Shield competition that has been played since 1934. The season consisted of six teams competing in a 40-game schedule, followed by a three-round finals series to determine the ABL champion.
At the conclusion of the regular season, the Sydney Blue Sox, Perth Heat, Adelaide Bite and Melbourne Aces progressed to the finals series, while the Brisbane Bandits and Canberra Cavalry were only eliminated from contention on the final day of the season. Both Melbourne and Sydney were eliminated by Adelaide in the minor semi-final series and the preliminary final series, respectively. Perth became the inaugural ABL champions when they defeated Adelaide two games to one in the championship series.
Formation
In June 2009, it was announced that the rights to the Claxton Shield had been sold to a new Australian Baseball League, with ownership split between Major League Baseball's 75 percent share and the 25 percent share owned by the Australian Baseball Federation. The 2010 Claxton Shield tournament was considered preparation for the inaugural ABL season.Although initial reports suggested that between eight and ten teams would contest the first season, including the possibility of a team based in New Zealand, six teams representing Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney were announced in November 2009 as the foundation clubs.
Compared to the previous season's Claxton Shield tournament, there were few structural changes to the competition. With the expansion from five to six teams, the need for teams to have a bye was eliminated, with all teams participating in games each round. The individual rounds were expanded from three to four games per round, resulting in an increase from 24 to 40 games per team for the season. The postseason was also expanded to include the top four teams, rather than only the top three.
Teams
Rosters
During the season each team made use of a 22-man active roster, drawn from 35-man squads announced on 28 October 2010.Venues
Four of the six teams used their existing venues from the Claxton Shield: the Adelaide Bite, Perth Heat and Sydney Blue Sox all used the same grounds used in the 2010 Claxton Shield by the respective state teams, and the Canberra Cavalry used the same venue used by Australia Provincial when they last contested the Claxton Shield in 2008: Narrabundah Ballpark.The Melbourne Aces played at the Melbourne Showgrounds, after the Victorian state government announced a A$300,000 upgrade of the grounds. Similarly the Queensland state government announced a A$300,000 upgrade of the Brisbane Exhibition Ground for use by the Brisbane Bandits as their home field.
| Team | City | State | Stadium | Ref |
| Adelaide | South Australia | Coopers Stadium | ||
| Brisbane | Queensland | Brisbane Exhibition Ground | ||
| Canberra | Australian Capital Territory | Narrabundah Ballpark | ||
| Melbourne | Victoria | Melbourne Showgrounds | ||
| Perth | Western Australia | Baseball Park | ||
| Sydney | New South Wales | Blacktown Olympic Park |
Regular season
The season length was similar to the 2010 Claxton Shield by spreading ten rounds over twelve weeks, playing only the season's first game in the first week and taking a week off for Christmas and Boxing Day. Six teams were involved, playing a four-game series every week totaling two series against each team, one at home and one away. In total, the schedule allowed for 40 regular season games per team before a four-team finals series. During the regular season, games were played Thursday to Sunday, varying depending on the series and team, with 18 games scheduled as doubleheaders on a Saturday. Doubleheaders were scheduled to have the first of the two games shortened to seven innings, with the second game using the full nine innings.One of the regular season games resulted in a tie, which is unusual in baseball given the provision in the rules of the game to play extra innings to determine a winner. The game between the Sydney Blue Sox and the Melbourne Aces at Blacktown Olympic Park was the second game of a makeup doubleheader as a result of rain earlier that weekend washing out two games, and so had been shortened to seven innings. A rain delay during the first game of the day forced the second game to a later start. Under a provision in the ABL rules that is modeled on the International Baseball Federation's tiebreaker rule, in any extra inning that starts within an hour of the curfew time for the game—a time set to allow the visiting team time to meet travel schedules to return home at the end of a series—each team starts with runners at first and second base with nobody out. In addition, no new inning may start within 15 minutes of the curfew time. The game was scoreless at the end of the regulation seven innings, and was tied at 1–1 at the end of the eighth inning, which ended at the curfew time. Though the game was an official game, the result did not count towards the season standings.
All but 4 of the scheduled 120 games were played. The four games that were not played were the series scheduled between the Brisbane Bandits and the Canberra Cavalry at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground for the ninth round. Flooding in Brisbane had resulted in the Exhibition Ground being used as an evacuation centre for affected residents. Initially the ABL postponed the series, leaving a decision as to whether the games would be rescheduled to a later time. Just prior to the final round of scheduled games, it was announced that the games would go ahead in the form of two doubleheaders, but that only games that would affect the playoffs would be played. When Brisbane lost the final game of their series against the Adelaide Bite, both they and Canberra were eliminated from contention for the playoffs; hence, the makeup games were not played.
The Perth Heat and Sydney Blue Sox were the first teams to clinch positions in the finals series when Perth defeated the Melbourne Aces in the final game of their series in round 9. The Adelaide Bite were the next team to secure a place in the top four, after winning the third of an expanded six-game series against Brisbane. It was only on the final day of the regular season that Melbourne was able to claim the fourth finals position, and that the makeup of the semi-final series was decided: Sydney hosting Perth in the major semi-final series, and Adelaide hosting Melbourne in the minor semi-final series.
Statistical leaders
| Stat | Player | Team | Total |
| AVG | Michael Collins | .360 | |
| HR | James McOwen | 11 | |
| RBI | James McOwen Joshua Roberts | 30 | |
| R | Jeremy Cresswell | 37 | |
| H | Robbie Widlansky | 52 | |
| SB | Trent D'Antonio | 9 |
| Stat | Player | Team | Total |
| W | Chris Mowday Daniel Schmidt | 6 | |
| L | Paul Mildren | 6 | |
| ERA | David Welch | 1.44 | |
| K | Chris Oxspring | 71 | |
| IP | Chris Oxspring | 68 | |
| SV | Koo Dae-Sung | 12 |
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. Each stage was decided by a best–of–three game series. Unlike regular season games, which made use of a variation of the International Baseball Federation's mercy rule after seven innings, no such rule was in place for postseason games; all games went the full nine innings, with the only exception being two games that were tied after nine innings, therefore requiring extra innings.The Perth Heat and Adelaide Bite each swept their semi-final series against the Sydney Blue Sox and Melbourne Aces respectively, resulting in the Heat qualifying for and hosting the championship series, and the Aces being eliminated. The Bite won the preliminary final series against the Blue Sox two games to one, to advance to the championship series. Though Adelaide won the first championship series game, the Perth Heat won the remaining two games to claim the title of ABL Champions.
Major semi-final
Minor semi-final
Preliminary final series
Championship series
Awards
| Award | Player | Team | Ref |
| Helms Award | James McOwen | ||
| Championship Series MVP | Benjamin Moore | ||
| Golden Glove | Didi Gregorius | ||
| Pitcher of the Year | David Welch | ||
| Reliever of the Year | Koo Dae-Sung | ||
| Rookie of the Year | Trent Schmutter | ||
| Silver Slugger | James McOwen |