2019–20 Australian Baseball League season
{{Infobox sports season
| sport = Baseball
| league = Australian Baseball League
| no_of_teams = 8
| duration = {{nowrap|21 November 2019}} – {{nowrap|9 February 2020}}
| season = Regular season
| MVP = Timothy Kennelly
Marcus Solbach
| finals = Championship Series
| finals_venue =
| finals_champ = Melbourne Aces (1st title)
| finals_runner-up = Adelaide Giants
| no_of_games = 155
| attendance =
| prevseason_link = 2018–19 Australian Baseball League season
| prevseason_year = 2018–19
| nextseason_link = 2020–21 Australian Baseball League season
| nextseason_year = 2020–21
}}
The 2019–20 Australian Baseball League season was the tenth year Australian Baseball League (ABL) season. The season was held from {{nowrap|21 November 2019}} to {{nowrap|9 February 2020}}. The Melbourne Aces won their first title after defeating the Adelaide Giants in the postseason.{{Cite web|url=https://theabl.com.au/news/aces-sweep-giants-claim-first-abl-title/|title=Aces sweep Giants, claim first ABL title {{!}} theABL.com.au|website=theabl.com.au|language=en|access-date=2020-02-08}}
Teams
{{main|List of current Australian Baseball League team rosters}}
On 27 August 2019, the Adelaide franchise announced it changed its name from the Adelaide Bite to the Adelaide Giants. This was the name of the Adelaide franchise from 1989–1999 and is the first renaming of a team in the league's history.{{cite web | title=Adelaide Giants return as Bite rebrand | url=http://web.theabl.com.au/news/article.jsp?ymd=20190827&content_id=310330618&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_t4064 | work=Adelaide Giants | publisher=Australian Baseball League | accessdate=21 October 2019 | archivedate= }}{{Dead link|date=January 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
The Tuatara also moved their team from the baseball-specific venue of McLeod Park to North Harbour Stadium, which was converted to a baseball field for the first time.
Regular season
The league retains a 10-round, 40 game schedule, with teams playing division rivals eight times and inter division teams four times.
Auckland, Brisbane, Canberra and Sydney grouped into the 'Northeast Division' with Adelaide, Geelong, Melbourne and Perth grouped into the 'Southwest Division'.
Scheduled doubleheaders consist of a seven inning game followed by a nine inning game. The league uses the WBSC tiebreaker rule for all games going beyond the 9th inning, or extra innings beginning less than one hour to a curfew.
In November, 2019 it was announced all games played at North Harbour Stadium would be reduced to seven innings to suit a local broadcast deal with Sky Sport.{{cite web | title=Baseball: Auckland Tuatara to shorten home games for entire Australian Baseball League season | url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12285138 | publisher=The New Zealand Herald | accessdate=22 November 2019| url-status= live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115134542/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12285138 |archive-date=2019-11-15 }}
In round six, one of the games between the Bandits and Cavalry in Canberra was suspended due to poor air quality conditions following the severity of the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, with the game completed the next day. The following round seven matchup between the Giants and Cavalry in Canberra was cancelled due to the same poor air quality, reducing their schedule to 36 games.[https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6564336/smoky-series-puts-abl-in-new-territory/ Canberra Cavalry cancellation leads to ABL's new air quality policy]Canberra Times
The conditions were the main contributing factor to Cavalry player Gavin Cecchini returning home before the completion of the season.[https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-23/bushfire-smoke-forces-us-baseball-star-to-quit-canberra-team/11822936 US baseball star Gavin Cecchini quits Canberra Cavalry as bushfire smoke wreaks havoc on sporting events] ABC News
Each team's series roster consists of 22 eligible players in addition to four amateur underage development players.
| class="wikitable"
|+ Key | width=15 style="background-color:lightgreen;text-align:center;" | | Secured Semi-finals berth |
| width=15 style="background-color:lightblue;text-align:center;" | | Secured Wild Card berth |
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" border="1" style="text-align:center"
|+ Northeast Division ! scope="col" width=28 | Pos ! scope="col" style="width:150px" | Team ! scope="col" width=60 | W ! scope="col" width=60 | L ! scope="col" width=60 | Pct. ! scope="col" width=60 | GB ! scope="col" width=60 | Home ! scope="col" width=60 | Away | ||||||
| style="background-color:lightgreen"
| 1 | scope="row" style="text-align:left;background-color:" | Auckland Tuatara
| 21.5 | 18.5 | {{winning percentage|21.5|18.5}} | - | 12–4 | 7½–12½ |
| style="background-color:lightblue"
| 2 | scope="row" style="text-align:left;background-color:" | Canberra Cavalry
| 20 | 20 | {{winning percentage|20|20}} | 1.5 | 12½-7½ | 6½–9½ |
| style="background-color"
| 3 | scope="row" style="text-align:left;background-color:" | Brisbane Bandits
| 19 | 21 | {{winning percentage|19|21}} | 2.5 | 12–8 | 5–11 |
| style="background-color:"
| 4 | scope="row" style="text-align:left;background-color:" | Sydney Blue Sox
| 16.5 | 23.5 | {{winning percentage|16.5|23.5}} | 5.0 | 7–9 | 7½–12½ |
| style="background-color:" |
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" border="1" style="text-align:center"
|+ Southwest Division ! scope="col" width=28 | Pos ! scope="col" style="width:150px" | Team ! scope="col" width=60 | W ! scope="col" width=60 | L ! scope="col" width=60 | Pct. ! scope="col" width=60 | GB ! scope="col" width=60 | Home ! scope="col" width=60 | Away | ||||||
| style="background-color:lightgreen"
| 1 | scope="row" style="text-align:left;background-color:" | Adelaide Giants
| 26 | 14 | {{winning percentage|26|14}} | - | 13–3 | 9-11 |
| style="background-color:lightgreen"
| 2* | scope="row" style="text-align:left;background-color:" | Melbourne Aces
| 23 | 17 | {{winning percentage|23|17}} | 1.0 | 13–7 | 8–8 |
| style="background-color:lightblue"
| 3 | scope="row" style="text-align:left;background-color:" | Perth Heat
| 23 | 17 | {{winning percentage|23|17}} | 1.0 | 9–7 | 12–8 |
| style="background-color:"
| 4 | scope="row" style="text-align:left;background-color:" | Geelong-Korea
| 11 | 29 | {{winning percentage|11|29}} | 11.0 | 8–12 | 3–13 |
| style="background-color:" |
- holds tiebreaker
= Statistical leaders =
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Batting leaders ! scope="col" width=50 | Stat ! scope="col" width=150 | Player{{#tag:ref | Minimum 2.7 PAs per team game.{{cite web | title=League Batting Leaders | url=http://web.theabl.com.au/stats/stats.jsp?y=2012&t=l_bat&lid=595&sid=l595 | work=Australian Baseball League | accessdate=27 January 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000806/http://web.theabl.com.au/stats/stats.jsp?y=2012&t=l_bat&lid=595&sid=l595 | archive-date=4 March 2016 | url-status=dead }} | name=bat | group=S}} ! scope="col" width=150 | Team ! scope="col" width=50 | Total |
| AVG
| .427 |
| HR
| 13 |
| RBI
| 42 |
| R
| | | 32 |
| H
| 52 |
| SB
| 23 |
{{col-2}}
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Pitching leaders ! scope="col" width=50 | Stat ! scope="col" width=150 | Player{{#tag:ref | Minimum 0.8 IP per team game.{{cite web | title=League Pitching Leaders | url=http://web.theabl.com.au/stats/stats.jsp?y=2012&t=l_pit&lid=595&sid=l595 | work=Australian Baseball League | accessdate=27 January 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303220147/http://web.theabl.com.au/stats/stats.jsp?y=2012&t=l_pit&lid=595&sid=l595 | archive-date=3 March 2016 | url-status=dead }} | name=pitch | group=S}} ! scope="col" width=150 | Team ! scope="col" width=50 | Total |
| W
| 6 |
| L
| 10 |
| ERA
| 1.50 |
| K
| 75 |
| IP
| 71 |
| SV
| | | 6 |
{{col-end}}
{{reflist | group=S}}
= Awards =
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="font-size:100%;" |
| + Season awards
! scope="col" width=175 | Award ! scope="col" width=150 | Player ! scope="col" width=150 | Team ! scope="col" width=50 | Ref |
| Helms Award (MVP) |
| Postseason MVP
| |
| Pitching Champion
| |
| Hitting Champion
| |
| Reliever of the Year
| Ryan Chaffee | |
| Defensive Player of the Year
| |
| Rookie of the Year
| Elliot Johnstone | |
Postseason
The postseason continued to include the top five teams, with a single wild card game between the fourth and fifth seeds prior to two rounds of best-of-three finals series.
The top seed was awarded to the team with the best regular season record, with the other division winner awarded the second seed. The third and fourth seed were awarded to the two divisional runner ups with the fifth seed being given to the team with the next best season record.{{Cite web |url=http://web.theabl.com.au/news/article.jsp?ymd=20180829&content_id=292500202&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_l595 |title=New-look playoff structure revealed |access-date=2019-10-21 |archive-date=2019-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191019000413/http://web.theabl.com.au/news/article.jsp?ymd=20180829&content_id=292500202&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_l595 |url-status=dead }}
The only change to the playoff structure from the previous season was the higher semi final was given home field advantage in games two and three (if required), with game one hosted by the lower seed.
Shane Robinson was named Championship Series MVP after batting 5/10 with three RBI and one home-run. He batted .412/.500/.647 across the postseason.
{{5TeamBracket|legs=1/3/3|nowrap=y
| RD1= Wild Card
| RD2= Semi-finals series
| RD3= Championship Series
| RD1-seed1=4
| RD1-team1=Canberra Cavalry
| RD1-score1=5
| RD1-seed2=5
| RD1-team2=Perth Heat
| RD1-score2=4
| RD2-seed1=1
| RD2-team1=Adelaide Giants
| RD2-score1-1=6
| RD2-score1-2=5
| RD2-score1-3=6
| RD2-seed2=4
| RD2-team2=Canberra Cavalry
| RD2-score2-1=7
| RD2-score2-2=2
| RD2-score2-3=3
| RD2-seed3=2
| RD2-team3=Auckland Tuatara
| RD2-score3-1=4
| RD2-score3-2=2
| RD2-score3-3=X
| RD2-seed4=3
| RD2-team4=Melbourne Aces
| RD2-score4-1=5
| RD2-score4-2=6
| RD2-score4-3=X
| RD3-seed1=1
| RD3-team1=Adelaide Giants
| RD3-score1-1=3
| RD3-score1-2=2
| RD3-score1-3=X
| RD3-seed2=3
| RD3-team2=Melbourne Aces
| RD3-score2-1=4
| RD3-score2-2=6
| RD3-score2-3=X
}}
=Championship Series=
{{Baseballbox
|date = 07 February 2020
|time = 19:00 (UTC+11:00)
|round = Game 1
|team1 = Melbourne Aces
|team1wp = Jon Kennedy (1-0)
|team1hr =
|score = 4-3
|boxurl = https://theabl.com.au/game/622867
|team2 = Adelaide Giants
|team2lp = Ryan Chaffee (0-1)
|team2hr =
|stadium = {{flagicon|Victoria}} Melbourne Ballpark, Melbourne
|attendance =2,367
|umpire = HP: Trent Thomas. 1B: Tom West. 2B: Brett Robson. 3B: Paul Latta.
}}
{{Baseballbox
|date = 08 February 2020
|time = 19:00 (UTC+10:30)
|round = Game 2
|team1 = Adelaide Giants
|team1lp = David Holmberg (0-1)
|team1hr = Mikey Reynolds (1), Jeremy Hazelbaker (1)
|score = 2-6
|boxurl = https://theabl.com.au/game/622866
|team2 = Melbourne Aces
|team2wp = Wes Helsabeck (1-0)
|team2hr = Shane Robinson (1), Delmon Young (1)
|stadium = {{flagicon|South Australia}} Bennett Field, Adelaide
|attendance =1,905
|umpire = HP: Tom West. 1B: Brett Robson. 2B: Paul Latta. 3B: Trent Thomas.
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.theabl.com.au/ The Australian Baseball League] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926071150/http://www.theabl.com.au/ |date=2020-09-26 }} – Official ABL Website
- [http://www.baseball.com.au/ Official Baseball Australia Website]
{{Australian Baseball League}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:2019-20 Australian Baseball League season}}
Category:Australian Baseball League seasons
Category:2019 in Australian sport
Australian Baseball League season