Flintoff & Dunn’s AUSTRALIAN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL - 2015 AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE 2015 IN REVIEW! - By Peter Flintoff Section 1 PERTH HEAT JUGGERNAUT MAKES IT 4 FROM 5 ABL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 2015! In 2014/15 we enjoyed the fifth season of the "second coming" of the Australian Baseball League. Once again 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. 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 trend. To continue their elected path, only the Melbourne Aces hosted Japanese professional imports for the 2015 season. The remainder of this paragraph is a repeat from last season, but my opinion has not changed and, moreover, it is stronger than 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. More frustrating for Melbourne fans in 2015 was the fact that the team was already slipping out of contention and there was no attempt to find adequate replacements. Canberra, out of necessity, were once again dominated by American import players while all of the other teams had a healthy contingent of US professional imports. Perth again set the bar very high with the quality of their imports, adding former major leaguers Mike McClendon and Rene Tosoni to the returning Gold Glove star Joey Wong who gave the team valuable continuity. To maintain their history in the modern ABL era the Sydney Blue Sox again relied less on import pitching. In its fifth season, the ABL stayed with virtually the same schedule that they adopted for the 2014 season with 48 (up from 46) regular season games spread over 13 weekend series. Again each club played every other club "home and away" with one additional home and away series against a selected opponent. This again produced an unbalanced schedule, but at least the opponents were rotated on this occasion from 2014. The season started with a "softer" schedule where each team had an early season bye round. All series were scheduled for four games in 2014/15. 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. Although they remained on the schedule in some instances there seemed to be a growing reluctance to schedule double header openings in favour of mainly single night games. Rained-out and/or postponed games were re- scheduled to be added to weekend programs for the return series between the same teams. 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 although there was one minor "wrinkle" for the 2015 Semi-Final series. With Perth seeded to host Sydney, the Blue Sox hosted the opening game at Blacktown then travelled to Perth for the other two games, if required. There was no third game required because the Heat swept the series 2-0. Unfortunately television coverage of ABL games was again virtually non-existent during the regular season, although the Championship series games were televised live on FOXTEL. On a more positive note the ABL did arrange a very broad coverage of games throughout the season via various internet streaming platforms. ABLtv and iiNet provided live streaming coverage of the majority of games which, by all reports, attracted good numbers of viewers around the country. Flintoff & Dunn’s ALMANAC 19th Edition Page 1-11 Flintoff & Dunn’s AUSTRALIAN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL - 2015 AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE 2015 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’ 2015 Edition book, but we do want to run through a brief overview of each series for historical purposes, as follows: WEEK ONE SERIES Adelaide @ Brisbane; Sydney @ Perth; Melbourne & Canberra Holloway Field Baseball Park, Thornlie 30 Oct - Brisbane 3-8 Adelaide 31 Oct - Perth 4-9 Sydney BYE Round 31 Oct - Brisbane 3-23 Adelaide 1 Nov - Perth 3-7 Sydney 1 Nov - Brisbane 6-5 Adelaide 1 Nov - Perth 5-0 Sydney 2 Nov - Brisbane 7-2 Adelaide 2 Nov - Perth 20-9 Sydney WEEK TWO SERIES Sydney @ Canberra; Brisbane @ Melbourne; Perth & Adelaide Narrabundah Melbourne Ballpark 6 Nov - Canberra 7-13 Sydney 7 Nov - Melbourne 3-10 Brisb BYE Round 7 Nov - Canberra 4-2 Sydney 8 Nov - Melbourne 2-1 Brisb 8 Nov - Canberra 1-3 Sydney 9 Nov - Melbourne 4-5 Brisb 9 Nov - Canberra 5-7 Sydney 10 Nov - Melbourne 1-2 Brisb WEEK THREE SERIES Canberra @ Sydney; Melbourne @ Brisbane; Perth @ Adelaide; Blacktown, Sydney Holloway Field Norwood Oval 13 Nov - Sydney 2-0 Canberra 13 Nov - Brisbane 6-7 Melb 13 Nov - Adelaide 0-6 Perth 14 Nov - Sydney 7-6 Canberra 14 Nov - Brisbane 6-6 Melb 14 Nov - Adelaide 5-4 Perth 15 Nov - Sydney 1-8 Canberra 15 Nov - Brisbane 4-3 Melb 15 Nov - Adelaide 3-2 Perth (7) 15 Nov - Sydney 6-11 Canberra 16 Nov - Brisbane 12-6 Melb 16 Nov - Adelaide 2-4 Perth WEEK FOUR SERIES Sydney @ Melbourne; Brisbane @ Adelaide; Canberra @ Perth; Melbourne Ballpark Norwood Oval Baseball Park, Thornlie 20 Nov - Melbourne 3-5 Sydney 20 Nov - Adelaide 14-6 Brisb 20 Nov - Perth 12-11 Canberra 21 Nov - Melbourne 4-2 Sydney 21 Nov - Adelaide 5-6 Brisbane 21 Nov - Perth 4-9 Canberra 22 Nov - Melb 8-12 Sydney (11) 22 Nov - Adelaide 5-2 Brisbane 22 Nov - Perth 4-5 Canberra (7) 23 Nov - Melbourne 10-4 Sydney 23 Nov - Adelaide 2-7 Brisbane 22 Nov - Perth 2-11 Canberra WEEK FIVE SERIES Melbourne @ Brisbane; Perth @ Sydney; Adelaide @ Canberra; Holloway Field Blacktown, Sydney Narrabundah 28 Nov - Brisbane 9-0 Melbourne 27 Nov - Sydney 9-5 Perth 27 Nov - Canberra 6-2 Adelaide 29 Nov - Brisbane 5-2 Melb (7) 28 Nov - Sydney 2-6 Perth 28 Nov - Canberra 6-0 Adelaide 29 Nov - Brisbane 4-2 Melbourne 29 Nov - Sydney 7-1 Perth 29 Nov - Canberra 8-9 Adelaide 30 Nov - Brisbane 2-12 Melb 30 Nov - Sydney 0-2 Perth (7) 30 Nov - Canberra 8-11 Adel (11) WEEK SIX SERIES Perth @ Melbourne; Canberra @ Adelaide; Brisbane & Sydney Melbourne Ballpark Norwood Oval 4 Dec - Melbourne 5-6 Perth 4 Dec - Adelaide 5-2 Canberra BYE Round 5 Dec - Melbourne 2-1 Perth 5 Dec - Adelaide 7-4 Canberra 6 Dec - Melbourne 7-6 Perth (12) 6 Dec - Adelaide 7-0 Canberra 7 Dec - Melbourne v Perth (WO) 7 Dec - Adelaide 4-11 Canb WEEK SEVEN SERIES Melbourne @ Canberra; Brisbane @ Perth; Adelaide @ Sydney; Narrabundah Baseball Park, Thornlie Blacktown, Sydney 11 Dec - Canberra 4-3 Melbourne 11 Dec - Perth 2-3 Brisb (11) 12 Dec - Sydney 4-5 Adelaide 12 Dec - Canberra 5-4 Melbourne 12 Dec - Perth 4-2 Brisbane 13 Dec - Sydney 0-3 Adelaide (7) 13 Dec - Canberra 0-5 Melbourne 13 Dec - Perth 5-4 Brisbane 13 Dec - Sydney 0-6 Adelaide 14 Dec - Canberra 3-0 Melbourne 14 Dec - Perth 4-5 Brisbane 11 Dec - Sydney 6-5 Adelaide (12) Flintoff & Dunn’s ALMANAC 19th Edition Page 1-12 Flintoff & Dunn’s AUSTRALIAN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL - 2015 AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE 2015 IN REVIEW! - By Peter Flintoff Section 1 WEEK EIGHT SERIES Perth @ Melbourne; Sydney @ Adelaide; Canberra @ Brisbane; Melbourne Ballpark Norwood Oval Holloway Field 18 Dec - Melbourne 5-15 Perth 18 Dec - Adelaide 10-3 Sydney 19 Dec - Brisbane 4-11 Canb (13) 19 Dec - Melbourne 9-0 Perth 19 Dec - Adelaide 6-2 Syd (8) 20 Dec - Brisbane 1-6 Canb (7) 20 Dec - Melbourne 1-2 Perth (7) 20 Dec - Adelaide 4-2 Sydney 20 Dec - Brisbane 2-8 Canberra 20 Dec - Melbourne 1-2 Perth (R) 21 Dec - Adelaide 4-3 Sydney 21 Dec - Brisbane 10-3 Canberra 21 Dec - Melbourne 3-1 Perth WEEK NINE SERIES Adelaide @ Canberra; Brisbane @ Sydney; Melbourne @ Perth; Narrabundah Blacktown, Sydney Baseball Park, Thornlie 27 Dec - Canberra 2-1 Adel (7) 26 Dec - Sydney 2-6 Brisbane 27 Dec - Perth 11-0 Melbourne 27 Dec - Canberra 1-2 Adelaide 27 Dec - Sydney 2-1 Brisbane 28 Dec - Perth 3-4 Melbourne 28 Dec - Canberra 3-6 Adelaide 28 Dec - Sydney 6-4 Brisbane 29 Dec - Perth 6-4 Melbourne 29 Dec - Canberra 5-6 Adel (12) 29 Dec - Syd 10-9 Brisb (10) 30 Dec - Perth 8-7 Melbourne WEEK TEN SERIES Canberra @ Melbourne; Perth @ Brisbane; Sydney @ Adelaide; Melbourne Ballpark Holloway Field Norwood Oval 1 Jan - Melbourne 6-12 Canberra 2 Jan - Brisbane 11-6 Perth 2 Jan - Adelaide 6-7 Sydney 2 Jan - Melbourne 6-9 Canberra 3 Jan - Brisbane 4-3 Perth (7) 3 Jan - Adelaide 11-7 Sydney (7) 3 Jan - Melbourne 9-8 Canberra 3 Jan - Brisbane 3-4 Perth 3 Jan - Adelaide 9-7 Sydney (8) 4 Jan - Melbourne 3-2 Canberra 4 Jan - Brisbane 3-9 Perth 4 Jan - Adelaide 13-5 Sydney WEEK ELEVEN SERIES Brisbane @ Canberra; Melbourne @ Sydney; Adelaide @ Perth; Narrabundah