Flintoff & Dunn’s AUSTRALIAN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL - 2013 AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE 2013 IN REVIEW! - By Peter Flintoff Section 1 CANBERRA PREVAILS FOR IT'S FIRST AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP! In 2012/13 we enjoyed the third season of the re-born Australian Baseball League. As in the first two seasons six teams from major capital centres made up the competition, namely Adelaide Bite, Brisbane Bandits, Canberra Cavalry, Melbourne Aces, Perth Heat and Sydney Blue Sox. Once again these teams comprised many of the best local players with the addition of international imports from the USA, Japan and Korea mainly. For reasons best known to them only the teams on the eastern seaboard invited Japanese imports with the understanding that they would only be available up to Christmas. This of course remains an issue of interest and division among ABL fans. Although we recognise the benefit of having this relationship with the Japanese pro leagues, plus the players can be productive and popular while they are here, it has not been a recipe for team success. Canberra, as we would expect, had a surplus of American import players and the departure of a couple of Japanese imports had little effect on them - they were readily replaced. Brisbane, and Melbourne especially, found it tough to compete after their key Japanese players returned home mid-season. The Adelaide Bite hit pay dirt with a couple of very good Korean players who remained all season to compliment their strong US professionals. The defending Champion Perth Heat once again boasted a strong core of US imports. For the third season of the new league there was another very minor expansion of the schedule with one extra game increasing the regular season from 45 games to 46. This was achieved by extending the regular season from 11 weeks to 13 weeks, while the five game weekend series from the 2012 season was discontinued in favour of a maximum of four games per series, with room to make up postponed games. The extra rounds meant that each team would host one additional home series against different opponents, even though this resulted in an unbalanced schedule. The season started with a "softer" schedule that involved three game weekends and each team had an early season bye round. Again the programming of games varied slightly from city to city and week to week but, generally, they spanned from Thursday to Saturday or Friday to Sunday. Typically each series comprised two night games with one weekend double-header. The first game of a double-header was played over seven innings while all other games were nine innings. Rained-out and/or postponed games were re-scheduled to be added to weekend programs for the return series between the same teams. At the conclusion of the 46 preliminary games played by each team a new “Top Three” format was adopted for the playoffs. The shortening of the playoffs that had been a "Final Four" in 2012 balanced the longer regular season by having two weekends of finals instead of three. Additionally, it was decided to make all finals best-of-three, whereas the early finals had been best-of-five. 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. The final table for 2012/13 will record that both Sydney and Brisbane played one fewer game (45) and this was because their final series of the season was not concluded. The fourth game of the series at Blacktown was washed out and, because final table positions could not be changed, it was decided that a re-schedule of the game before the playoffs was unnecessary. It was slightly disappointing for ABL fans that the commitment for FOXTEL pay-TV coverage of the Grand Final games slid somewhat from the previous season. There had been live coverage of all three Championship games at the end of 2012, but in 2013 only the first game was televised live while the second game was shown days later on replay. As a footnote to this the second ABL All- Star Game was also shown only on replay a few days later, whereas it had been live in 2012. Flintoff & Dunn’s ALMANAC 17th Edition Page 1 -11 Flintoff & Dunn’s AUSTRALIAN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL - 2013 AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE 2013 IN REVIEW! - By Peter Flintoff Section 1 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’ 2013 Edition book, but we do want to run through a brief overview of each series for historical purposes, as follows: WEEK ONE SERIES Perth @ Adelaide; Sydney @ Canberra; Brisbane & Melbourne Norwood Oval Narrabundah 1 Nov - Adelaide 3-9 Perth 2 Nov - Canberra 1-2 Syd (10) BYE Round 2 Nov - Adelaide 3-13 Perth 3 Nov - Canberra 1-2 Syd (7) 3 Nov - Adelaide 4-8 Perth 3 Nov - Canberra 2-1 Sydney WEEK TWO SERIES Adelaide @ Melbourne; Brisbane @ Sydney; Canberra & Perth Melbourne Ballpark Blacktown, Sydney 9 Nov - Melbourne 5-1 Adelaide 9 Nov - Sydney 8-0 Brisbane BYE Round 10 Nov - Melbourne 5-7 Adelaide 10 Nov - Sydney 1-3 Bris (11) 11 Nov - Melbourne 7-2 Adelaide 11 Nov - Sydney 2-5 Brisbane WEEK THREE SERIES Melbourne @ Perth; Canberra @ Brisbane; Adelaide & Sydney Baseball Park, Thornlie Redlands Baseball Club 16 Nov - Perth 3-0 Melbourne 16 Nov - Brisbane 2-3 Canberra BYE Round 17 Nov - Perth 9-4 Melbourne 17 Nov - Brisbane 2-3 Canb (7) 18 Nov - Perth 2-12 Melbourne 17 Nov - Brisbane 6-1 Canb (3) Game resumed 11 Jan 2013 WEEK FOUR SERIES Perth @ Sydney; Brisbane @ Adelaide; Melbourne @ Canberra; Blacktown, Sydney Norwood Oval Narrabundah 22 Nov - Sydney 1-0 Perth 22 Nov - Adelaide 2-6 Brisbane 23 Nov - Canberra 3-5 Melbourne 23 Nov - Sydney 4-2 Perth 23 Nov - Adelaide 7-6 Brisbane 24 Nov - Canberra 10-9 Melb (7) 24 Nov - Sydney 4-6 Perth 24 Nov - Adelaide 5-2 Brisb (7) 24 Nov - Canberra 5-3 Melbourne 25 Nov - Sydney 3-4 Perth 24 Nov - Adelaide 3-7 Brisbane 25 Nov - Canberra 7-8 Melbourne WEEK FIVE SERIES Perth @ Melbourne; Adelaide @ Canberra; Sydney @ Brisbane; Melbourne Ballpark Narrabundah Lismore 30 Nov - Melbourne 2-9 Perth 30 Nov - Canberra 8-2 Adelaide 30 Nov - Brisbane 3-8 Sydney 1 Dec - Melbourne 3-1 Perth (7) 1 Dec - Canberra 6-7 Adel (7) 1 Dec - Brisbane 3-2 Sydney (7) 1 Dec - Melbourne 0-8 Perth 1 Dec - Canberra 6-3 Adelaide 1 Dec - Brisbane 2-3 Sydney 2 Dec - Melbourne 3-4 Perth 2 Dec - Canberra 4-2 Adelaide Palm Meadows, Gold Coast 2 Dec - Brisbane 2-9 Sydney WEEK SIX SERIES Melbourne @ Adelaide; Brisbane @ Perth; Canberra @ Sydney; Norwood Oval Baseball Park, Thornlie Blacktown, Sydney 7 Dec - Adelaide 10-4 Melbourne 7 Dec - Perth 4-6 Brisbane 6 Jan - Sydney 1-2 Canberra (13) 8 Dec - Adelaide 5-3 Melb (9) 8 Dec - Perth 3-2 Brisbane (7) 7 Jan - Sydney 4-3 Canberra 8 Dec - Adelaide 18-1 Melbourne 8 Dec - Perth 4-3 Brisbane 8 Jan - Sydney 2-6 Canberra 9 Dec - Adelaide 10-9 Melbourne 9 Dec - Perth 1-5 Brisbane 9 Jan - Sydney 6-7 Canberra (10) WEEK SEVEN SERIES Canberra @ Melbourne; Adelaide @ Brisbane; Sydney @ Perth; Melbourne Ballpark RNA Showgrounds Baseball Park, Thornlie 13 Dec - Melbourne 1-9 Canberra 13 Dec - Brisbane 4-2 Adelaide 13 Dec - Perth 2-5 Sydney 14 Dec - Melbourne 5-0 Canb (7) 14 Dec - Brisbane 1-2 Adel (11) 14 Dec - Perth 10-2 Sydney (7) 14 Dec - Melbourne 8-9 Canb (10) 14 Dec - Brisbane 6-5 Adel (10) 14 Dec - Perth 4-6 Sydney 15 Dec - Melbourne 0-5 Canberra 15 Dec - Brisbane 1-6 Adelaide 15 Dec - Perth 10-9 Sydney Flintoff & Dunn’s ALMANAC 17th Edition Page 1 -12 Flintoff & Dunn’s AUSTRALIAN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL - 2013 AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE 2013 IN REVIEW! - By Peter Flintoff Section 1 WEEK EIGHT SERIES Sydney @ Melbourne; Brisbane @ Canberra; Perth @ Adelaide; Melbourne Ballpark Narrabundah Norwood Oval 20 Dec - Melbourne 1-5 Sydney 20 Dec - Canberra 2-5 Brisbane 21 Dec - Adelaide 1-2 Perth 21 Dec - Melbourne 1-0 Sydney 21 Dec - Canberra 8-4 Brisbane 22 Dec - Adelaide 5-3 Perth (7) 22 Dec - Melbourne 3-4 Sydney 22 Dec - Canberra 6-1 Brisbane 22 Dec - Adelaide 2-10 Perth 23 Dec - Melbourne 8-10 Sydney 23 Dec - Canberra 9-2 Brisbane 23 Dec - Adelaide 5-4 Perth WEEK NINE SERIES Adelaide @ Sydney; Melbourne @ Brisbane; Canberra @ Perth; Blacktown, Sydney RNA Showgrounds Baseball Park, Thornlie 27 Dec - Sydney 7-9 Adelaide 27 Dec - Brisbane 5-1 Melb 28 Dec - Perth 2-3 Canberra (12) 28 Dec - Sydney 3-2 Adelaide 28 Dec - Brisbane 4-0 Melb 29 Dec - Perth 6-8 Canberra 29 Dec - Sydney 2-1 Adelaide 29 Dec - Brisbane 3-5 Melb 30 Dec - Perth 7-10 Canberra 30 Dec - Sydney 4-0 Adelaide 30 Dec - Brisbane 6-1 Melb 31 Dec - Perth 19-12 Canberra WEEK TEN SERIES Brisbane @ Melbourne; Sydney @ Adelaide; Perth @ Canberra; Melbourne Ballpark Norwood Oval Narrabundah 3 Jan - Melbourne 6-1 Brisbane 3 Jan - Adelaide 7-3 Sydney 3 Jan - Canberra 10-1 Perth 4 Jan - Melbourne 7-3 Brisbane 4 Jan - Adelaide 3-4 Sydney 4 Jan - Canberra 16-9 Perth 5 Jan - Melbourne 2-0 Brisbane 5 Jan - Adelaide 9-4 Sydney 5 Jan - Canberra 5-6 Perth 6 Jan - Melbourne 5-4 Brisb (11) 6 Jan - Adelaide 7-6 Sydney 6 Jan - Canberra 9-0 Perth WEEK ELEVEN SERIES Melbourne @ Sydney; Adelaide @ Perth; Canberra @ Brisbane; Blacktown, Sydney Baseball Park, Thornlie RNA Showgrounds 10 Jan - Sydney 13-3 Melbourne 10 Jan - Perth 2-5 Adelaide 11 Jan - Brisbane 6-1 Canberra 11 Jan - Sydney 2-0 Melbourne 11 Jan - Perth 11-7 Adelaide Re-started from 17 Nov 2012 12 Jan - Sydney 5-4 Melbourne 12 Jan - Perth 7-3 Adelaide 11 Jan - Brisbane 6-1 Canberra (7) 13 Jan - Sydney