Australian Baseball League (ABL)

Upcoming season or competition: 2025–26 ABL season
Formerly	Australian Baseball League
Sport	Baseball
Founded	2009; 16 years ago (2009)
Founder	Australian Baseball Federation &Major League Baseball
First season	2010–11
Owner	Baseball Australia
CEO	Glenn Williams
COO	Michael Crooks
No. of teams	4
Country	Australia
Continent	Australia
Most recent champion	Canberra Cavalry (2nd title)
Most titles	Brisbane Bandits,Perth Heat (4 titles)
Qualification	Asia Series (2011–2013)
Broadcasters	MLB Network (United States) Sky Sport (New Zealand) Eleven Sports (Taiwan) MBC Sports+ (South Korea)
Streaming partners	Baseball+ YouTube Streamer
Related competitions	Claxton Shield
Official website	theabl.com.au

TheAustralian Baseball League (ABL) is a professionalbaseball league inAustralia. The league is governed by theAustralian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it shares some history of theoriginal league with theClaxton Shield awarded to winners of both competitions, it is considered to be a separate competition.

Because the ABL's season takes place from November to February, the ABL is one of baseball's recognisedwinter leagues (although it is summer in Australia when the season takes place), whereminor-league prospects in North America are often assigned as anEnglish-speaking alternative to the primarySpanish-speakingLatin America-based winter leagues.

The ABL was originally jointly owned byMajor League Baseball (75%) and theAustralian Baseball Federation (25%) before the ABF became the sole owners prior to the2016–17 season.^[1] Rather than following more traditional models of thefranchises being owned privately by individuals or organisations, the league is the owner of each team. One of the rationales for this structure is to closely manage the financial situation, helping to ensure that all teams are equally viable. It is expected that this arrangement will continue for at least the first five seasons: the period of time covered by the financial commitment made by MLB and the ABF.^[2]

As a result of the central ownership of the teams, allplayers are paid by the league. This is to ensure that no team receives an unfair advantage over any other with regards to financial success. The pay scale has set a number of tiers which group players of similar experience levels, with all players in the same tier receiving the same pay. The ABL has considered the possibility of having one or two marquee players paid above the standard scale, though no final decision has been made with regard to this. One concern about high rates of pay expressed by the ABF was that it was a contributing factor, if not the main factor, in the failure of the previousAustralian Baseball League. ABF management has also expressed the concern that if this league were to fail, there may never be another opportunity for professional baseball in Australia.^{[citation needed]}

Baseball was brought to Australia by American gold miners and played on the gold fields ofBallarat for fun on their rest days in the 1850s.Cricketers Gaggin & Goldsmith tried to play baseball atYarra Park,Melbourne in 1867, butAustralian rules football fans arriving for the adjacent football disrupted the games.The first series of full competitive games of baseball by Australians were played by members of the Surry Baseball Club on Moore Park and by members of the NSW Cricket Association on the adjacentSydney Cricket Ground in June/July 1878.In 1881, American residents formed a Union Baseball Club and a year later with Australians, formed a Sydney Baseball Club with U.S. Consul Gilderoy Wells Griffin forming a NSW Baseball Association in 1885.Following the A.G. Spalding tour by theChicago White Sox and All-America teams in 1888 & 1889, Harry Simpson stayed in Australia, formed baseball clubs inMelbourne,Adelaide,Broken Hill, and eventuallySydney with competition games being played. Simpson also travelled toNew Zealand to promote baseball. When he suddenly died in September 1891, after setting up the NSW Baseball League, it was a New Zealander, Tony Chuck, who took his place in Australia.

The original Australian Baseball League commenced in 1989. At the time, it replaced theClaxton Shield as the top baseball competition in the country, with eight teams fromAdelaide,Brisbane,Gold Coast,Melbourne,Perth andSydney. Over the course of the league's life, teams were also based inCanberra andNewcastle, with the number of teams competing in any one season varying from six to nine. Only four teams contested each of the ten seasons, with the others folding due to financial problems, or due to a lack of a suitable venue for home games.

The financial difficulties were not restricted to the clubs, as the league was forced to close after the summer of 2000. Running at a loss ofA$2 million a season, the rights to the league were sold toDave Nilsson—an AustralianMajor League Baseball player with theMilwaukee Brewers at the time—for a reported A$5 million.^[3]

On 1 July 2009, a joint press-conference was held by theABF,MLB andAustralian Federal Government at thePalm Meadows Baseball Complex on theGold Coast inQueensland, the site of the Major League Baseball Australian Academy Program (MLBAAP). During the conference the intention to resurrect a national baseball league forAustralia was announced, with the Government announcingA$400,000 towards the new league.^[4] Though some sources reported that the new league could be running as early as October 2010,^[5] there had been no official timeframe released for the new league to commence.^[6]

Initial reports suggested the competition would likely include between eight and ten teams from around Australia. Discussions were held between the ABF andBaseball New Zealand about the possibility of a team based inNew Zealand being included in the competition. The offer, however, was declined on the basis that there was not sufficient infrastructure, specifically citing the need for a suitable stadium and a major sponsor for the team. The possibility of a New Zealand team joining the competition at some point in the future had not been ruled out though.^[7]Auckland Tuatara joined in 2018.

There were additional concerns about the viability of a team based inSouth Australia, primarily based on the lack of a suitable stadium with lights to be able to play night games.^[8] This, along with playing onbaseball-specific grounds — as opposed to playing on temporarily convertedrugby league grounds as had been the case in theold ABL — was seen as a necessary requirement to insure the long-term profitability of the competition.^[9]

In August 2009, a bid process was launched by theAustralian Capital Territory Baseball Association (ACTBA) for a team to be based inCanberra with the name andmotto of "Let's Do It Canberra".^[10] The bid was not in competition with any other bids, but was required to meet certain minimum standards, such as fan and sponsorship support, to be successful and join the other five teams fromAdelaide,Brisbane,Melbourne,Perth andSydney that were at the time confirmed.^[2] On 18 November 2009, it was announced by the ABF that the Canberra bid was successful, confirming that the inaugural season would include six teams.^[11]

In December 2009, a competition was launched for fans to decide the names of the foundation franchises, called "Name Your ABL Team". For each franchise, four team-name options were available to choose from, in addition to being able to enter another name created by the entrant.^[12] In August 2010, the names of the teams were announced, along with teamlogos and colours:Adelaide Bite,Brisbane Bandits,Canberra Cavalry,Melbourne Aces,Perth Heat, andSydney Blue Sox.^[13]

This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(January 2024)

For theinaugural season, the regular season was played from November through to January over ten weeks, similarly to the2010 season of theClaxton Shield. With the expansion from five to six teams, each team played every week as opposed to the twobye weeks the teams had previously. In addition, rather than a three-game series each week, the series were four games each, resulting in each team playing 40 games over the season. As had been the case in 2010, the majority of games were played on Fridays and Saturdays, though some games were also played on Thursdays and Sundays, depending on the team hosting and whether or not adoubleheader was included in the series.^[14]

The2011–12 season largely followed the same format as the 2010–11 season, with only minor changes. Though the opening game of the season was scheduled again be the only game played that day, the whole series was played over the same weekend along with the first series for each of the other four teams. To allow for thePerth Heat's participation in theAsia Series, each of the teams had a bye weekend during the first half of the season. The season expanded from 40 to 45 games per team; one of the two series played against each opponent expanded from 4 to 5 games.^[15]

The2012–13 season also had minor modifications from the previous season. Each team's bye weekends were in the first three rounds of competition, and each series held during these weekends were only 3 games long, and were billed as "... against their two closest geographical neighbours; building upon both traditional and newly established rivalries."^[16] The match-ups for these games echoed the divisions used in the2008 Claxton Shield, where teams based in Brisbane, Canberra and Sydney were in the Eastern Division, and teams from Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth were in the Southern Division. The remaining 10 weeks were made up of 4-game series, like the 2010–11 season. By the end of the season, each team had played each other team at least eight times, with an additional three against both of their geographic rivals.^[17]

In the league's second season, it was announced that an All-Star Game would take place, to be held inPerth on 21 December 2011. Like theMajor League Baseball All-Star Game, it would be held midway through the regular season, and would feature the best players in the league. Rather than the teams in the All-Star Game being made up of players from certain teams, the game would be contested byTeam Australia and a team of World All-Stars, selected from the import or international players participating in the ABL at the time.^[18]

All-Star Game results

Season	Venue	Host team		Game result				Most Valuable Player				Ref
				Winning team	Score	Losing team		Player	All-Star Game team	ABL team
2011–12 Details	Perth	Perth Heat		World All-Stars	8 – 5	Team Australia		Tyler Collins	World All-Stars	Sydney Blue Sox		[19]
2012–13 Details	Melbourne	Melbourne Aces		Team Australia	6 – 4	World All-Stars		Brad Harman	Team Australia	Melbourne Aces		[20]
2013–14 Details	Melbourne	Melbourne Aces		World All-Stars	6 – 0	Team Australia		Joey Wong	World All-Stars	Perth Heat		[21]
2014–15 Details	Melbourne	Melbourne Aces		Team Australia	11 – 8	World All-Stars		Brad Harman	Team Australia	Melbourne Aces		[22]
2015–16 Details	Melbourne	Melbourne Aces		Team Australia	3 – 2	World All-Stars		Trent D'Antonio	Team Australia	Sydney Blue Sox
2016–17 Details	Melbourne	Melbourne Aces		Team Australia	2–1	World All-Stars		Stefan Welch	Team Australia	Adelaide Bite
2017–18 Details	Melbourne	Melbourne Aces		World All-Stars	6–4	Team Australia		Jay Baum	World All-Stars	Canberra Cavalry

For the first two ABL seasons, the postseason involved the top four teams in a three-round structure following thePage playoff system. In the inaugural season, each round consisted of a best–of–three-game series between the respective teams,^[23] however this was changed in 2011–12 such that the first two rounds were decided in a best–of–five series, with the championship series remaining best–of–three.^[24] The first- and second-placed teams played each other in the major semi-final series, with the winner proceeding directly to the championship series and the loser to the preliminary final series. The winner of the minor semi-final series between the third- and fourth-placed teams also went to the preliminary final series, while the loser was eliminated. Likewise, the winner of the preliminary final series qualified for the championship series, the loser eliminated.^[25]

The third season used a shortened format from the two previous seasons. Only the top three teams qualified for a two-round postseason, with each round consisting of a best–of–three-game series. The first-placed team directly qualified for the championship series, and the second- and third-placed teams played each other in the preliminary final series, the winner of which qualified for the second place in the championship series.^[26]

For the 2017–18 season, the ABL announced that the top four teams at the end of the regular home and away season would qualify for the semifinals, providing more opportunities for teams to compete for Championship glory. Teams will be seeded from #1 to #4 based on their record and finishing order in the home and away season. The #1 Seed and #2 Seed will be awarded home semi-finals, and will host all three games in a best of three series. The ABLCS will be a home and away split series with the Highest Seeded Winner awarded the choice to host either Game 1, OR Games 2 and 3.

The winner of the championship series is named the ABL Champion for that season, and is awarded the Claxton Shield; the prize given to the top Australian baseball team since 1934.^[14]

In the 2018–19 season, a Wild Card game was added as part of the league's expansion to 8 teams with the winner advancing to the divisional semi-finals, and Canberra won the inaugural game against the Melbourne Aces.

After the inaugural ABL season had been completed, it was announced that the league's champions each season would be invited to the restarted Asia Series.^[27] The event had previously been contested between the winners ofNippon Professional Baseball's (NPB)Japan Series,Korea Professional Baseball's (KBO)Korean Series,Chinese Professional Baseball League's (CPBL)Taiwan Series, andChina Baseball League's (CBL) championship series. The2011 tournament did not feature the CBL's champions, but officials 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 was held in Taiwan. The tournament follows around-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.^[28]

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 Perth Heat—2010–11 champions—would be scheduled to have a bye while competing in Taiwan.^[29]

In any regular four-game series (or fewer), the players eligible to play, or 'Active List', is limited to 22 players. Three ineligible 'Reserve List' players are named on each roster that may replace an active player mid-series due to injury or a reserve player completing a suspension. In addition to the Active List, four 'Development List' players may be named to play during the series. These development list players must be 23 years of age or younger, have Australian citizenship or residency and not yet accumulated 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched. Such development players are not eligible to appear in extra innings games.

The majority of the rosters in the league are made up of local and international players who play their northern hemisphere summer inNorth America'sMajor League Baseball,Minor League Baseball, the South KoreanKBO, the JapaneseNPB, the TaiwaneseCPBL, European baseball, or one of the variousindependent baseball leagues. In addition, many local amateurs who are formerly professional or play in the regionalamateur club teams make up the balance of these rosters.

Since the inaugural season, there have been limitations on the number of internationals or 'imports' either on an active roster or any given game. As of 2018, a cumulative points system is in place to limit the number of foreign born players over the course of a season. 150 points may be used cumulatively over the season's ten series.

For the 2020–2021 season only, this was changed to 360 points used on a per game basis across 24 regular season games. Non-affiliated overseas players were also changed from 4 points to 2.

Teams may nominate two Marquee Players who were either:

• On an MLB active roster that year, previous MLB All-Star, or 5 + years' MLB service time
• A CPBL, NPB or KBO contracted player, previous All-Star or 5 + years' service time in those leagues.

In addition to Australian players, New Zealand citizens and residents are considered native players for Auckland and South Korean players for Geelong.

As of the 2023–24 season, the live coverage is provided by:

• Baseball+ (worldwide)

For the inaugural season, there had been no television coverage of regular season games, either live, delayed or in a regular highlights package review format, despite having been in negotiations withFox Sports andNetwork Ten.^[30] After completing negotiations for live television coverage of the finals,^[31] the championship series was broadcast live on Fox Sports.^[32]

On 1 November 2010, Sydneycommunity radio stationTriple H FM announced it would provide live broadcasts ofSydney Blue Sox home matches as well asCanberra Cavalry's home series against the Blue Sox,Melbourne Aces andPerth Heat—the weeks Sydney was away from home.^[33]Perth Now's radio station SportFM announced it would cover thePerth Heat spring training games as well as the opening game of every Heat home series.^[34]

TheAdelaide Bite,^[35]Brisbane Bandits^[36] and Perth Heat^[37] provided free audio andvideo streaming through internet websiteUstream.

For the second season, Fox Sports expanded its television coverage of the ABL to include theAll-Star Game in addition to the championship series.^[38] The game was also carried live viaESPN Star Sports in China, India and Taiwan. It was shown on delay in the United States on theMLB Network, as well as also being shown on delay in Japan and South Korea.^[39] The international television coverage of the championship series expanded from that of the All-Star Game, with Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Philippines also getting live coverage through ESPN Star Sports, with several additional countries in Asia and Oceania including New Zealand getting delayed television coverage. TheAustralian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) introduced live radio coverage of the championship series via the digitalABC Radio Grandstand station.^[40] In recent years, ABL coverage of its All-Star Game and championship series has expanded to Canada throughSportsNet (effectively simulcasting MLB Network in the United States).

For the2015—16 season, one Sunday match for each of the last five regular season rounds was shown live nationally onESPN Australia. This marked the first time in the franchise's history that regular season matches had been shown on television. In addition, all five were also aired live in Asia viaFox Sports Asia, while three of the matches were shown live in the U.S. on the MLB Network.^[41]

ESPN has broadcast live the2013–14,2014–15, and 2015–16 Championship series'.^[42][43][44] In addition, the 2014–15 and 2015–16 series' were broadcast in the United States on MLB Network and online onMLB.com, and in Asia on Fox Sports Asia.^[43][44]

According to Ministry of Sport, the 2018/19 ABL season became the most viewed since its inception.^[45]

In 2022, it was announced thatBaseball Australia andSportradar would be launching a streaming service that would broadcast every ABL game beginning with the 2023–24 season.^[46]

Bandits

Blue Sox

Heat

Giants

Though the locations for the six teams had been known for some time previously, it was not until 5 August 2010 that the names of the teams were announced. Websites were also launched on the same day for each of the teams with the exception of thePerth Heat, which had been the name of theWestern Australian team playing in theClaxton Shield since 2006, as well as being one of the franchises from theoriginal ABL, contesting all ten seasons.^[49] TheBrisbane Bandits is also a reintroduction of a team name from the original ABL that participated in all but the final season.^[48]

Prior to being renamed the Giants, theAdelaide Bite used a name that theSouth Australia state baseball team has previously used at various times in the Claxton Shield, which in turn refers both to the great white shark common to South Australian waters as well as the geographic feature, theGreat Australian Bight.^[47] Likewise, theMelbourne Aces uses theVictoria state baseball team's moniker from Claxton Shield competitions past.^[51] TheCanberra Cavalry and theSydney Blue Sox both use names not previously used in Australian baseball at the national level.

Prior to the 2016–17 ABL season, the Adelaide Bite's home ground,Norwood Oval (known asCoopers Stadium due to sponsorship) was the only ABL venue not built specifically for baseball use. Norwood Oval is the long time home ofAustralian rules football team theNorwood Redlegs who play in Adelaide major local competition theSouth Australian National Football League (SANFL). The oval however, due to having lights installed, has generally been the main venue for baseball in Adelaide since 1951.^[52] Although the oval has a normal spectator capacity of 22,000 for football, due to the configuration of the baseball diamond spectators are not permitted beyond the outfield fence and capacity is generally restricted to around 10–15,000 for ABL games still making it easily the largest capacity venue in the league. For the 2016–17 season the Adelaide Bite moved from Norwood Oval to the purpose-builtDiamond Sports Stadium.

Auckland Tuatara and Geelong-Korea both folded following the2022–23 Australian Baseball League season.^[53][54]

Following the2024–25 Australian Baseball League season, theMelbourne Aces announced that they would be leaving the ABL but would independently compete in theUlsan KBO Fall League and againstKBO teams in Australia.^[55] A month later, the league confirmed that theCanberra Cavalry would also be giving up their license. The league stated that the four remaining teams still as well as a "potential new owner" still desired to compete in a four team league.^[56] Although theSydney Blue Sox had previously announced that Darren MacBeth would be stepping down as owner, the league stated that the team would still compete under unnamed new ownership.^[56][57]

In November 2017, the league officially announced plans to add two more teams for the 2018–19 season. The expanded eight team league will continue to work with partners around the region.^[58] On 6 April 2018, it was announced that a New Zealand team based in Auckland would be joining the league for the 2018–19 season.^[59] On 18 May 2018, it was announced that an all-Korean team based inGeelong would be joining the league for the 2018–19 season.^[60]

After the expansion of the league into Auckland and Geelong in the 2018–19 season the league immediately benefited from an exponential increase in viewership numbers and has looked to expand to ten teams as early as the 2020–21 season.^[61] An additional two teams would be similar to theGeelong-Korea concept; a foreign sponsored roster based in an Australian city. These teams would have Japanese, Taiwanese or even Chinese comprised rosters.^[62]

The league has publicly stated the most likely expansion to ten teams would be based in regional Australia, being eitherTasmania,Wollongong,Alice Springs or a second team in either far south or northQueensland.^[63]

A second team in New Zealand,Lismore,Newcastle and theGold Coast have also been mentioned as other potential expansion cities.^[64]

In October 2018, it was announced by Baseball Australia that it was working towards a women's ABL and began a process ofcrowd funding to help kick start the league with the support of sponsors and partners. In September 2019, it was announced that the league with a name to confirmed would begin in the 2021 financial year, most likely following the conclusion of the2020–21 Australian Baseball League season.^[65]

Four teams were confirmed to be a part of the first season with licenses were granted to theAdelaide Giants,Brisbane Bandits,Canberra Cavalry andBaseball Victoria. Auckland, Geelong, Perth and Sydney opted against submitting a team in the inaugural competition, but expressed interest in joining after the first season. TheMelbourne Aces were not part of the licensing process due to a then ongoing change of management.

Exhibition games and testing are set to take place during the2020 Women's Nationals and beyond.^[66]

• New Era – Caps^[69]
• Brett Bros Sport - Bats, balls and protective gear^[70]
• Kayo Sports - Broadcast partner (Australia)
• Virgin Australia - Airline partner
• The Hertz Corporation - Rental car partner

• Australian Baseball League (1989-1999)
• Claxton Shield
• International Baseball League of Australia

• ABF official website
• ABL official website
• ABL Attendance
• ABL news
• ABL on AUStadiums
• Mizuno Corporation Australia official website
• Sam Bat official website

• Australian Baseball League
• Baseball leagues in Australia
• Professional sports leagues in Australia
• 2009 establishments in Australia
• Sports leagues established in 2009
• Multi-national sports leagues

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