Flintoff & Dunn’s AUSTRALIAN MAJOR LEAGUE - 2016 AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE 2016 IN REVIEW! - By Peter Flintoff Section 1

BRISBANE BANDITS RISE FROM MEDIOCRITY TO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!

In 2015/16 we enjoyed the sixth season of the current Australian Baseball League. Once again six teams from major capital centres made up the competition, namely Adelaide Bite, Bandits, , Aces, Heat and Blue Sox. As usual these teams comprised many of the best local players with the addition of international imports from the USA, Japan, Taipei and Korea mainly. Having said that, some of our very best Australian professional talent either did not play or played only part of the season as a worrying, but perhaps understandable, trend. On the upside we did see some long-awaited appearances from a few of our bigger names due to the lure of representing in the Qualification Series to be conducted at Blacktown in Sydney during February 2016.

To continue their elected path, only the hosted a contingent of Japanese professional imports for the 2016 season. The remainder of this paragraph is a repeat from the last few seasons, but my opinion remains as pertinent as ever. The Japanese players had only a modest impact before, as dictated, packing up to return home at Christmas time. 'Flintoff & Dunn' has probably said enough about the overall value of importing Japanese players into our ABL, especially given that they are unable to stay the course of the full season. Regardless of what philosophical advantage there may be for our league to have some Japanese "connection", there is sufficient evidence that the Japanese import players provide very little value to the club(s) that host them. It is more of a detraction and a distraction to replace these players mid-season. Once again it was more frustrating for Melbourne fans in 2016 that the team was already slipping out of contention when the Japanese players departed and there was little attempt to find adequate replacements.

Canberra, out of necessity, was once again dominated by American import players while all of the other teams had a healthy contingent of US professional imports. One thing somewhat unique to Canberra was the continuity they enjoyed from having players like Brian Grening, Jack Murphy and Jeremy Barnes returning for multiple tours as fan favourites from the US. For the quality of import players it is fair to say that the struck the jackpot this season, especially with the arrival of recent major leaguer , who had played with our Canberra Cavalry prior to his ascent to the big leagues. Adelaide imported a top quality first round draft selection in Travis Demeritte who really underlined his credentials toward the end of the 2016 season. Melbourne appointed a new manager in ’ bench coach Joe Vavra who brought with him his sons Tanner and Trey, yet they had only moderate impact in the ABL. To maintain their history in the modern ABL era the again relied less upon import pitching.

In its sixth campaign, the ABL made another marginal increase to its schedule for the 2016 season with 56 (up from 48) regular season games spread over 14 (up from 13) weekend series. To accommodate this the ABL season began one week earlier than the previous season. Again each club played every other club "home and away" with two additional home and away series against selected opponents. Unlike previous years there were no BYE rounds for any teams this season. This again produced a slightly unbalanced schedule, but at least the opponents were rotated again. All series were scheduled for four games in 2015/16. As it transpired Melbourne and Sydney played one fewer regular season game than the others when their final game of the season was cancelled after a couple of washouts in the series at Blacktown because the result could not change the playoff standings.

Again the programming of games varied slightly from city to city and week to week but, generally, they spanned from Thursday to Sunday, with Sunday being an earlier game as a “getaway day”. Seven inning contests were played as the matinee game on double header days. Rained-out and/or postponed games were re-scheduled to be added to weekend programs for the return series between the same teams.

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The ABL also stuck with the "Top Three" playoffs format. Under this format the team finishing top automatically qualified to host the Championship series, while the second placed team hosted the third placed team in the one semi-final series. The winner of this progressed to be the away team in the Championship series. All playoff series were best-of-three contests with a repeat of the same conditions as last season. The Preliminary Final allowed the third ranked team to host the first game, while the second seeded team could host the other two, if required. That was the case in 2016 when Adelaide won the opening game at home, Canberra squared the series in Game 2 at home and Adelaide took the decider away at Narrabundah. The table topping Brisbane Bandits earned the right to host all three possible Grand Final games at , but they needed only two to sweep the Adelaide Bite for their Championship triumph.

Unfortunately television coverage of ABL games was again virtually non-existent during the regular season until the ABL made a significant breakthrough late in the 2016 season. For the last few weekends of the season they were able to get one Sunday afternoon game televised live on FOXTEL. Some of the playoff games were also televised live on FOXTEL pay TV. The ABL again arranged a very broad coverage of games throughout the season via various internet streaming platforms. ABLtv and iiNet provided live streaming coverage of nearly all games which, by all reports, attracted a decent smattering viewers around the country.

This ABL review is not intended to duplicate the detail about every game from the individual game reports that will also feature in ‘Flintoff & Dunn’s’ 2016 Edition book, but we do want to run through a brief overview of each series for historical purposes, as follows:

WEEK ONE SERIES Brisbane @ Canberra; Sydney @ Melbourne; Adelaide @ Perth; Narrabundah , Thornlie 23 Oct - Canberra 2-1 Brisbane 23 Oct - Melbourne 3-0 Sydney 23 Nov - Perth 5-4 Adelaide 24 Oct - Canberra 8-7 Brisbane 24 Oct - Melbourne 3-7 Sydney 24 Nov - Perth 4-7 Adelaide 24 Oct - Canberra 10-7 Brisbane 24 Oct - Melbourne 4-2 Sydney 24 Nov - Perth 3-2 Adelaide 25 Oct - Canberra 4-12 Brisbane 25 Oct - Melbourne 4-6 Sydney 25 Nov - Perth 4-3 Adelaide (12)

WEEK TWO SERIES Adelaide @ Brisbane; Canberra @ Melbourne; Perth @ Sydney; Holloway Field Melbourne Ballpark Blacktown, Sydney 29 Oct - Brisbane 4-3 Adel (11) 30 Oct - Melbourne 0-2 Canb 30 Oct - Sydney 1-4 Perth 30 Oct - Brisbane 7-6 Adel (10) 31 Oct - Melbourne 6-18 Canb 31 Oct - Sydney 6-1 Perth 31 Oct - Brisbane 5-4 Adelaide 31 Oct - Melbourne 4-6 Canb 31 Oct - Sydney 3-2 Perth (10) 1 Nov - Brisbane 6-4 Adelaide 1 Nov - Melbourne 3-1 Canb 1 Nov - Sydney 3-5 Perth (11)

WEEK THREE SERIES Sydney @ Canberra; Melbourne @ Adelaide; Brisbane @ Perth; Narrabundah Baseball Park, Thornlie 5 Nov - Canberra v Sydney PPD 6 Nov - Adelaide 6-4 Melb 6 Nov - Perth 1-5 Brisbane 6 Nov - Canberra 9-0 Sydney 7 Nov - Adelaide 4-5 Melb (15) 6 Nov - Perth 3-7 Brisbane 7 Nov - Canberra 0-6 Sydney 8 Nov - Adelaide 10-8 Melb 7 Nov - Perth 3-2 Brisbane (10) 7 Nov - Canberra 14-3 Sydney 8 Nov - Adelaide 8-1 Melb 7 Nov - Perth 0-2 Brisbane (10) 8 Nov - Canberra 10-11 Sydney

WEEK FOUR SERIES Perth @ Melbourne; Adelaide @ Sydney; Canberra @ Brisbane; Melbourne Ballpark Blacktown, Sydney Holloway Field 12 Nov - Melbourne 1-8 Perth 12-14 Nov - Syd v Adel PPD 13 Nov - Brisbane 3-2 Canberra 13 Nov - Melbourne 0-3 Perth 15 Nov - Sydney 3-6 Adel 14 Nov - Brisbane 8-4 Canberra 14 Nov - Melbourne 4-1 Perth 15 Nov - Sydney 0-4 Adel 14 Nov - Brisbane 0-7 Canberra 15 Nov - Melbourne 2-4 Perth 15 Nov - Brisbane 4-7 Canberra

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WEEK FIVE SERIES Melbourne @ Canberra; Brisbane @ Adelaide; Sydney @ Perth; Narrabundah Norwood Oval Baseball Park, Thornlie 19 Nov - Canberra 10-4 Melb 19 Nov - Adelaide 3-8 Brisb 20 Nov - Perth 4-7 Sydney 20 Nov - Canberra 8-11 Melb 20 Nov - Adelaide 2-0 Brisb 21 Nov - Perth 2-1 Sydney (10) 21 Nov - Canberra 7-2 Melb 21 Nov - Adel 2-3 Brisb (10) 21 Nov - Perth 4-5 Sydney 22 Nov - Canberra 5-11 Melb 22 Nov - Adelaide 9-8 Brisb 22 Nov - Perth 10-5 Sydney

WEEK SIX SERIES Adelaide @ Canberra; Brisbane @ Sydney; Perth @ Melbourne; Narrabundah Blacktown, Sydney Melbourne Ballpark 26 Nov - Canberra 4-12 Adelaide 26 Nov - Sydney 5-1 Brisbane 27 Nov - Melbourne 5-4 Perth 27 Nov - Canberra 4-3 Adelaide 27 Nov - Sydney 8-5 Brisbane 28 Nov - Melbourne 2-6 Perth 28 Nov - Canberra 9-1 Adelaide 28 Nov - Sydney 5-1 Brisbane 29 Nov - Melbourne 14-0 Perth 29 Nov - Canberra 12-7 Adelaide 29 Nov - Sydney 6-2 Brisbane 30 Nov - Melbourne 8-9 Perth

WEEK SEVEN SERIES Sydney @ Adelaide; Canberra @ Perth; Melbourne @ Brisbane; Norwood Oval Baseball Park, Thornlie Holloway Field 3 Dec - Adelaide 4-0 Sydney 3 Dec - Perth 0-6 Canberra 4 Dec - Brisbane 6-5 Melb (10) 4 Dec - Adelaide 6-3 Sydney 4 Dec - Perth 5-3 Canberra 5 Dec - Brisbane 12-3 Melbourne 5 Dec - Sydney 3-4 Adel (R) 5 Dec - Perth 0-6 Canb PPD 5 Dec - Brisbane 6-4 Melbourne 5 Dec - Adelaide 13-11 Syd (8) 6 Dec - Perth 3-4 Canberra 6 Dec - Brisbane 5-6 Melb (11) 6 Dec - Adelaide 9-14 Sydney 6 Dec - Perth 3-5 Canberra

WEEK EIGHT SERIES Adelaide @ Melbourne; Canberra @ Sydney; Perth @ Brisbane; Melbourne Ballpark Blacktown, Sydney Holloway Field 10 Dec - Melbourne 2-3 Adelaide 11 Dec - Sydney 8-0 Canberra 11 Dec - Brisbane 8-4 Perth 11 Dec - Melbourne 8-0 Adelaide 12 Dec - Sydney 11-7 Canb 12 Dec - Brisbane 1-2 Perth 12 Dec - Melbourne 7-1 Adelaide 13 Dec - Sydney 6-1 Canberra 12 Dec - Brisbane 5-3 Perth 13 Dec - Melbourne 1-2 Adelaide 14 Dec - Sydney 8-2 Canberra 13 Dec - Brisbane 8-2 Perth

WEEK NINE SERIES Melbourne @ Sydney; Brisbane @ Canberra; Perth @ Adelaide; Blacktown, Sydney Narrabundah Norwood Oval 18 Dec - Sydney 5-3 Melbourne 18 Dec - Canberra 4-6 Brisb 18 Dec - Adelaide 2-7 Perth 19 Dec - Sydney 5-0 Melbourne 19 Dec - Canberra 8-1 Brisb 19 Dec - Adelaide 11-3 Perth 19 Dec - Sydney 3-7 Melbourne 19 Dec - Canberra 4-11 Brisb 19 Dec - Adelaide 8-7 Perth 20 Dec - Sydney 5-3 Melbourne 20 Dec - Canberra 5-0 Brisb 20 Dec - Adelaide 1-0 Perth

WEEK TEN SERIES Canberra @ Adelaide; Sydney @ Brisbane; Melbourne @ Perth; Norwood Oval Holloway Field Baseball Park, Thornlie 26 Dec - Adelaide 5-7 Canberra 26 Dec - Brisbane 7-5 Sydney 26 Dec - Perth 5-6 Melbourne 27 Dec - Adelaide 5-4 Canb (10) 27 Dec - Brisbane 10-2 Sydney 27 Dec - Perth 1-8 Melbourne 28 Dec - Adelaide 6-7 Canberra 28 Dec - Brisbane 3-0 Sydney 28 Dec - Perth 3-0 Melbourne 29 Dec - Adelaide 5-3 Canberra 29 Dec - Brisbane 11-9 Sydney 29 Dec - Perth 6-3 Melbourne

WEEK ELEVEN SERIES Perth @ Canberra; Brisbane @ Melbourne; Adelaide @ Sydney; Narrabundah Melbourne Ballpark Blacktown, Sydney 31 Dec - Canberra 16-7 Perth 31 Dec - Melbourne 2-9 Brisb 31 Dec - Sydney 3-8 Adelaide 1 Jan - Canberra 9-7 Perth 1 Jan - Melbourne 4-7 Brisb 1 Jan - Sydney 1-7 Adelaide 2 Jan - Canberra 7-12 Perth 2 Jan - Melbourne 3-0 Brisb 2 Jan - Sydney 7-6 Adel (R) 3 Jan - Canberra 4-9 Perth 3 Jan - Melbourne 5-7 Brisb 2 Jan - Sydney 9-2 Adelaide 3 Jan - Sydney 7-0 Adelaide (6)

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WEEK TWELVE SERIES Melbourne @ Adelaide; Sydney @ Brisbane; Canberra @ Perth; Norwood Oval Holloway Field Baseball Park, Thornlie 7 Jan - Adelaide 3-7 Melbourne 7 Jan - Brisbane 3-6 Sydney 7 Jan - Perth 6-5 Canberra 8 Jan - Adelaide 11-2 Melbourne 8 Jan - Brisbane 13-8 Sydney 8 Jan - Perth 2-3 Canberra 9 Jan - Adelaide 7-2 Melbourne 9 Jan - Brisbane 8-7 Syd (11) 9 Jan - Perth 7-3 Canberra 10 Jan - Adelaide 4-8 Melbourne 10 Jan - Brisbane 10-4 Sydney 10 Jan - Perth 5-9 Canberra (11)

WEEK THIRTEEN SERIES Brisbane @ Melbourne; Sydney @ Canberra; Adelaide @ Perth; Melbourne Ballpark Narrabundah Baseball Park, Thornlie 14 Jan - Melbourne 1-4 Brisbane 14 Jan - Canberra v Syd PPD 14 Jan - Perth 3-5 Adelaide 15 Jan - Melbourne 2-3 Brisbane 15 Jan - Canberra 3-2 Sydney 15 Jan - Perth 2-5 Adelaide 16 Jan - Melbourne 1-2 Brisbane 16 Jan - Canberra 0-2 Sydney 16 Jan - Perth 1-2 Adelaide 17 Jan - Melbourne 11-3 Brisbane 16 Jan - Canberra 7-4 Sydney 17 Jan - Perth 4-2 Adelaide 17 Jan - Canberra 5-0 Sydney

WEEK FOURTEEN SERIES Melbourne @ Sydney; Canberra @ Adelaide; Perth @ Brisbane; Blacktown, Sydney Norwood Oval Holloway Field 21-22 Jan - Sydney v Melb PPD 21 Jan - Adelaide 13-7 Canb 21 Jan - Brisbane 5-2 Perth 23 Jan - Sydney 3-6 Melbourne 22 Jan - Adelaide 18-4 Canb 22 Jan - Brisbane 3-2 Perth (10) 23 Jan - Sydney 4-2 Melbourne 23 Jan - Adelaide 2-3 Canb 23 Jan - Brisbane 9-0 Perth 24 Jan - Sydney 10-8 Melbourne 24 Jan - Adelaide 2-1 Canb 24 Jan - Brisbane 6-1 Perth Game 4 Cancelled

PRELIMINARY-FINAL SERIES GRAND-FINAL SERIES Adelaide @ Canberra; Adelaide @ Brisbane; Norwood Oval, Adelaide Holloway Field, Brisbane 29 Jan - Adelaide 6-4 Canberra Narrabundah, ACT 5 Feb - Brisbane 7-4 Adelaide 30 Jan - Canberra v Adelaide PPD 31 Jan - Canberra 3-2 Adelaide 6 Feb - Brisbane 7-1 Adelaide 31 Jan - Canberra 2-9 Adelaide

(##) = Refers to Extra Innings Number; Or less than normal innings - - (R) = Re-Scheduled Game

WHAT’S NEW

In its sixth season of the new ABL era the 2015/16 Australian Baseball League once again saw few fundamental changes as the competition continued to imbed its culture in Australia.

As mentioned earlier there were no BYE rounds because of the ongoing cessation of the . Once again this series was cancelled due to scheduling issues that, apparently, could not be resolved. We must wonder whether this series will ever be rekindled now?

Although many Australian baseball devotees were keen to debate the number of import players featuring in the league, it is fair to say that the spread of import players was again more evenly apportioned than in the earlier years of this league. Certainly there has been a gradual increase in the number of import players featuring in the ABL and there are varied views on the merits of having so many “foreign players” limiting the opportunities for local players. As mentioned, the only anomaly was that Melbourne continued to host a contingent of Japanese players for the first part of the season - as we continue to say this is certainly a detriment to their chance of overall success.

There were no major changes to the rules of the competition and, once again, all ABL players were required to swing wooden bats.

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One small “wrinkle” was the occasional use of “International Tie-Breaker Rules” for games going beyond ten innings where time curfews were an issue. In these cases both teams would start innings after the tenth with runners placed on first and second bases to begin the inning. The purists would never be in favour of such a contrived outcome, yet it did pretty much ensure that a result would be achieved very swiftly.

For the fifth time the ABL held their annual All-Star Game, for the third straight time at Melbourne Ballpark, on 16 December 2015. This time a really enthralling contest ended when Team Australia “manufactured” a winning run in the bottom of the ninth for an exciting 3-2 win. This game was broadcast live streaming on ABLtv via the internet.

VENUES & ATTENDANCES

The home venues for ABL teams seemed to be pretty much locked-in with Brisbane settling in to their third season at Holloway Field. As we don’t expect there to be much change to these venues in coming years, we will just use this table to record the ongoing history of the clubs.

TEAM HOME VENUE NAMING SPONSOR Adelaide Bite Norwood Oval SA Power Networks Brisbane Bandits Holloway Field Welldog Canberra Cavalry Narrabundah Canberra Elite (Taxi Service) Melbourne Aces Melbourne Ballpark - Altona Jet Couriers Baseball Park - Thornlie alcoholthinkagain Sydney Blue Sox Blacktown Int. Sportspark Compass Global Markets

From my own observation, attendances were pretty much the same as the previous seasons. Certainly there was no quantum increase or decrease that I noticed. If anything, some of the less popular dates may have suffered a marginal downturn.

From my previous review I won't repeat the re-badging of stadium names based on commercial sponsors as they were generally unchanged. What I will repeat is my personal dislike of having sponsor names permanently attached to the simple team names. The ABL competition continued its relationship with its former primary naming rights sponsor ConocoPhillips. They were joined as “Major Sponsors” by Boral, Bendigo Bank, Virgin Australia and Levi’s.

To once again repeat our long-held philosophical stance, 'Flintoff & Dunn' will offer the view that Australian baseball is a minority sport and a "niche market", therefore we need to be conservative and realistic about what to expect in terms of spectator support. It is understandable to aim high but patience will be necessary. We might also need to accept the notion that this might not change to any significant extent in the foreseeable future.

OFFENSIVE HIGHLIGHTS

As we always try to do at this time I will begin by paying tribute to Perth star and Melbourne’s who put their hands up to play in the ABL. Following the retirement of , they were the only local position players of recent major league pedigree who graced the league during the 2015/16 season. After the Christmas break the Melbourne Aces welcomed back established ‘AAA’ infielder James Beresford who returned from a two-year absence from the ABL scene as a marquee player.

Probably more so than in any previous season of this league, US professional imports dominated the offensive statistics, almost to the exclusion of any local players throughout the 2016 season.

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Unsurprisingly some of the key performers were among those who led the league for appearances. Adelaide’s first round US draft pick Travis Demeritte was the only man to play all 56 games, just ahead of team mate Kyle Petty, along with Brisbane duo Riley Unroe and who each played in 55. Bandits’ import Bralin Jackson amassed most at bats with 216 to edge Perth import Derek Peterson with 214. Demeritte, who really came alive near the end of the season, didn’t feature among the following stats leaders other than owning by far the most strike outs with 60, which might surprise some. He was certainly capable of more had he found his feet earlier.

Brisbane’s prototypical leadoff batter Riley Unroe led the ABL for hits (67), runs scored (42) and stolen bases (14) as a genuine key to their Championship tilt. Canberra short stop Jason Leblebijian was also a prolific performer with league highs of 44 RBIs and 19 doubles. Adelaide’s power hitting first baseman Kyle Petty shared the ABL lead for RBIs with 44 and had second most hits (66) while he also shared second billing for runs with Leblebijian as both recorded 39. Sydney import Rhys Hoskins was third for run production with 43 driven in.

At one stage Petty looked capable of setting a new mark for home runs, but he cooled a little in the latter part of the season to top the table with 14 long balls. In a remarkable all-round offensive performance Petty easily led the competition for total bases (121), shared the league high for slugging (.582) and stole equal second most bases with 12. He may be voted league MVP?

Brisbane’s star import Justin Williams shared the top slugging percentage of .582, ahead of Canberra’s underrated Ryan Miller who slugged for .578. Williams was next in line for home runs along with Perth catcher , who enjoyed a power surge, with ten apiece. Williams also led the 2016 ABL season with his gaudy OPS of .980 in a fine season for him.

Topping the league for batting average was star Canberra leadoff hitter David Harris with .346, narrowly beating local Sydney stalwart Trent D’Antonio (.344) and Justin Williams (.342). They led a list of 16 ABL players who owned averages of .300 or better. D’Antonio also led the league for on base percentage with .469, just a tick better than Adelaide import Marc Wik with .468. Helping Wik to achieve that mark was his competition most 44 walks for the season.

As you can glean from those numbers, only Trent D’Antonio waved the flag for the Aussies!

PITCHING HIGHLIGHTS

As mentioned earlier, a few of Australia’s bigger names returned to the ABL spotlight this season with the lure of playing for their country in the Qualification Series of the 2017 World Baseball Classic. This series was conducted at Blacktown during February 2016, just after the ABL season concluded. Recent major league Pete Moylan, and (all from ) featured during the 2016 ABL campaign. Moylan and Lindsay both made cameo appearances with the Melbourne Aces, while Blackley was lured to Brisbane near the end of the season to become a key component of their Championship drive.

In a remarkable season for reliable starting pitching, no fewer than eight top of the rotation starters made all 14 scheduled starts for their clubs during the regular season, they were: Aussies - Wayne Lundgren (SB), Steve Kent (CC), Steven Chambers (AB), Daniel Schmidt (PH) and Nick Veale (PH), along with US imports - Brian Grening (CC), Edwin Carl (PH) and Rick Teasley (BB).

Making one fewer start than those were the tremendous workhorses of the competition, US Independent League stalwarts - Melbourne’s Matt Larkins (97.0 IP) and Brisbane’s Jason Jarvis (89.2 IP) who both soaked up the innings for their respective teams.

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We noted many times in our season overview that Brisbane manager David Nilsson made an art form of “shortening the game” with the potent back end of his bullpen and this is confirmed by the fact that his three main men led the competition for appearances. Closer topped the list with 31 games, just ahead of team mates Eric Green (29) and Matt Timms (28). Career starter Searle set a new ABL saves record with 17, clearly in front of Adelaide’s Kody Kerski with 11. Searle also owned the lowest ERA with 0.40 (from 45.0 IP), the third lowest Opponent Batting Average (.165) and the second lowest WHIP with .777 in a tremendous season for him.

From less innings Canberra’s import reliever Michael Click was next on the ERA honour roll with 1.30 (27.2 IP), while Perth’s Scott Mitchinson was fourth with 1.83 (39.1 IP). Best among the starting pitchers was Sydney import Alex Balog who was third overall with 1.35 (46.2) and Adelaide’s was fifth overall with 2.23 (48.1 IP). Aforementioned Steven Chambers and Jason Jarvis topped the wins column with eight victories each. Stalwart Cavalry import starter Brian Grening led the league with three complete games.

Imports Edwin Carl (85) and Brian Grening (83) were the only two pitchers with more than 80 strike outs for the season. Sydney reliever struck out hitters at the rate on 1.500 per inning (11.1 IP), while Canberra reliever Michael Click owned the remarkable ratio of 32 strike outs versus just four walks from his 27.2 innings. Click was second for Opponent Batting Average with .160, but the lowest mark belonged to recent major leaguer Travis Blackley with .155 (18.0 IP) for Brisbane. Click also boasted the lowest WHIP of .687 yet, for a starter, Alex Balog’s WHIP of 1.007 from 46.2 innings was a tremendous effort of efficiency.

DEFENSIVE HIGHLIGHTS

As always we must apologise for the fact that our comments are primarily based on games that we saw in person and/or some anecdotal information we received. This might unfairly result in a neglect to mention some other worthy defensive efforts.

One obvious defensive highlight was the restoration of Melbourne’s double play combination when James Beresford returned to action at short stop after the Christmas break to team up once again with former major leaguer Brad Harman.

Aside from the customary polish of Perth stalwart Allan de San Miguel, who was errorless with the catcher’s glove, there wasn’t too much to individualise here. Adelaide’s power hitting first baseman Kyle Petty added to his possible MVP credentials by owning an errorless 1.000 fielding percentage from nearly 400 total chances as a clearly a masterful performance. Melbourne import Keith Curcio covered a lot of ground as a speedy and he also used that speed to steal double-digit bases but, unfortunately for the Aces, he didn’t produce enough offensively to compliment that speed. Perth outfielder Tad Gold was similarly impressive defensively but also similarly disappointing with the stick.

SEASON RESULTS

The 2016 ABL season was quite even and competitive aside from the (again) re-jigged Melbourne Aces who fell from contention early and eventually spiralled downward to another lamentable conclusion. Although marginally more successful based on winning percentage than the previous year, another season in the cellar remains a less that satisfactory result for what has been Australia’s leading baseball state. The Aces again had hopes that new manager Joe Vavra, who had coached in the original ABL, and who came with the credentials of having been a major league assistant coach with the Minnesota Twins, would bring better things. However, he too found that good players make good managers and not vice versa.

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Melbourne was again shackled by the inclusion of Japanese professional players who, as we have come to understand, always return home when Santa Claus arrives in Australia. Once more the Aces could only manage to replace their Japanese players with what could be described as “second tier” local league players. To put it bluntly, this league is too tough to try to sneak through with “smoke and mirrors” and Melbourne fans had nothing much to enjoy as the season progressed.

With strong pitching and defence coming to the fore, David Nilsson’s Brisbane Bandits led the standings from early in the season and, while opposing teams waited for them to stumble, they were to find that the stumble never came. Nilsson “shortened the game” with the back end of his bullpen that featured import Eric Green along with local ‘Burly Brothers’ Matt Timms and Ryan Searle who preserved many results for them. His decision to install career starter Searle as the team’s closer was a masterstroke that seemed to permeate through the confidence of the squad. The Bandits clinched top position before the final regular season series and they held a wide six- game advantage when the season concluded. It was a truly amazing turnabout for the only club that had not featured in the ABL playoffs during the modern era.

Canberra and Adelaide scrapped all the way down to the final series of the season, where they went head-to-head, before both comfortably claimed the other two post season berths. Canberra grabbed second seeding with a one game advantage over the Bite. Those teams eventually owned a decent 3.5 game gap over the fourth placed Sydney Blue Sox who battled on gamely after the mid-season departure of their ace import Alex Balog.

Having won four of the five available Championships during the modern ABL era, the Perth Heat somewhat surprisingly failed to find their renowned “mojo” throughout the season and, despite a still capable looking roster, they finished just 1.5 games ahead of last placed Melbourne. We wouldn’t expect them to stay there for any length of time with their core group still playing.

Under the three-team finals format the one Preliminary Final saw the Cavalry hosting the Bite in a best-of-three. As mentioned, Adelaide took the opening game at home before the scheduled second game was postponed due to a washout in Canberra. Two games were scheduled for the deciding Sunday at Narrabundah with the hosts levelling the series in Game 2 before Adelaide caused a minor boilover by taking the series with a comfortable win in Game 3. Adelaide’s star import Travis Demeritte carried his club with four home runs and six RBIs over the three games.

There was a heightened air of expectation around the league with the knowledge that a new name would be inscribed as Champions of the current ABL competition. The home-standing Brisbane Bandits had gone “all-in” by enticing recent major league pitcher, Melbourne’s Travis Blackley, to join the club for the stretch run and he probably put them over the top in terms of 2016 Championship favouritism. The Bandits made good their favourite status by taking the Grand Final series in two straight games with their dominant pitching again taking the air out of a gallant Adelaide club. To emphasise their worthiness, they still had their regular No.1 starter (Rick Teasley) up their sleeve for a deciding Game 3 if it had been required… it wasn’t and he wasn’t needed.

With no clear-cut candidate I’d really prefer not to nominate a likely Helms Award winner this season, but if I had to throw a racquet at it I might just favour Adelaide’s leader Kyle Petty who also put up very good all-round offensive statistics. Although pitchers rarely get much consideration for this award, I would hope that Brisbane’s new closer Ryan Searle would get some serious thought after setting a new benchmark for saves in a brilliant season for the Championship winning club.

To repeat again, my personal preference has always been that Australia's famous Helms Award should have been limited to local Australian players only.

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This most coveted individual Australian baseball award was suspended during the previous ten-year span of the original ABL in favour of an ABL Most Valuable Player. The Helms award was instituted for our long standing competition and, now that international players have won the award since the re-birth of the ABL, the list of winners is no longer an exclusive list of Australian baseball greats.

THE AFTERMATH

Here is some more repeated text that I still have no reason to change for this review:

To be as clear-thinking, realistic and honest as we always try to be, 'Flintoff & Dunn' really can't be very insightful about where our Australian Baseball League is positioned at present with respect to the expectations of those in major league baseball that control our league? Like all Australian baseball devotees, we'd love to be a "fly on the wall" at the inner sanctum whenever the future of our league is under discussion. It is hard to imagine that we have exceeded, or even fulfilled, their expectations in terms of attendance or growth... not to mention financial viability?

The multi-million dollar question is whether those expectations can be tempered to a point where our benefactors at MLB can continue to support our league for philosophical "growth" reasons? Whether the Australian Baseball League, even in a modified form, could continue without the ongoing support of MLB is an even bigger quandary and we really hope that we don't need to find out any time soon.

Aside from the ongoing improvement of logistics, venues and media exposure there was a pleasing improvement in the competitiveness of all teams and the evenness of the competition was commendable. There is no magic wand or potion that will bring about a dramatic increase in spectator support, so we can only keep chipping away at improving those things that will gradually attract more people to games.

To repeat something that we have said very often over many years after the original ABL folded, we simply cannot afford to fail with this attempt at a National League or we might never see one again. The new National League is here and we must not let it fail…

Australian baseball fans must all rally together and remain confident - support our league!

We have now gone beyond the initial five year promise of support from MLB and, to be honest, there has been no published narrative about what their position now is with regard to support of our national competition. We haven’t heard as much as a whisper that they could withdraw their support but, equally, we have heard nothing about their long-term plans. I guess the fact that the league continues must be taken as an indication that the support is still there, even though I also guess that this support could now be withdrawn at any time. When that may be, if ever, only time will tell…

By Peter Flintoff

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