Australian Baseball League

The original Australian Baseball League commenced in 1989. At the time, it replaced the Claxton Shield as the top baseball competition in the country, with eight teams from Adelaide, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Over the course of the league's life, teams were also based in Canberra and Newcastle, 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 of A$2 million a season, the rights to the league were sold to Dave Nilsson—an Australian Major League Baseball player with the Milwaukee Brewers at the time—for a reported A$5 million.[3]

On 1 July 2009, a joint press-conference was held by the ABF, MLB and Australian Federal Government at the Palm Meadows Baseball Complex on the Gold Coast in Queensland, the site of the Major League Baseball Australian Academy Program (MLBAAP). During the conference the intention to resurrect a national baseball league for Australia was announced, with the Government announcing A$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 and Baseball New Zealand about the possibility of a team based in New 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 in South Australia, primarily based on the lack of a suitable stadium with lights to be able to play night games.[8] This, along with playing on baseball-specific grounds — as opposed to playing on temporarily converted rugby league grounds as had been the case in the old 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 the Australian Capital Territory Baseball Association (ACTBA) for a team to be based in Canberra with the name and motto 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 from Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney 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 team logos and colours: Adelaide Bite, Brisbane Bandits, Canberra Cavalry, Melbourne Aces, Perth Heat, and Sydney Blue Sox.[13]

For the inaugural season, the regular season was played from November through to January over ten weeks, similarly to the 2010 season of the Claxton Shield. With the expansion from five to six teams, each team played every week as opposed to the two bye 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 a doubleheader was included in the series.[14]

The 2011–12 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 the Perth Heat's participation in the Asia 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]

The 2012–13 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 the 2008 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 in Perth on 21 December 2011. Like the Major 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 by Team 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 the Page 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 of Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB) Japan Series, Korea Professional Baseball's (KPB) Korean Series, Chinese Professional Baseball League's (CPBL) Taiwan Series, and China Baseball League's (CBL) championship series. The 2011 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 a round-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 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.[53] 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.[54] On 18 May 2018, it was announced that an all-Korean team based in Geelong would be joining the league for the 2018–19 season.[55]

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.[56] An additional two teams would be similar to the Geelong-Korea concept; a foreign sponsored roster based in an Australian city. These teams would have Japanese, Taiwanese or even Chinese comprised rosters.[57]

The league has publicly stated the most likely expansion to ten teams would be based in regional Australia, being either Tasmania, Wollongong, Alice Springs or a second team in either far south or north Queensland.[58]

A second team in New Zealand, Lismore, Newcastle and the Gold Coast have also been mentioned as other potential expansion cities.[59]

In October 2018, it was announced by Baseball Australia that it was working towards a women's ABL and began a process of crowd 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 the 2020–21 Australian Baseball League season.[60]

Four teams were confirmed to be a part of the first season with licenses were granted to the Adelaide Giants, Brisbane Bandits, Canberra Cavalry and Baseball Victoria. Auckland, Geelong, Perth and Sydney opted against submitting a team in the inaugural competition, but expressed interest in joining after the first season. The Melbourne 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 the 2020 Women's Nationals and beyond.[61]

• New Era – Caps[64]
• Brett Bros Sport - Bats, balls and protective gear[65]
• Kayo Sports - Broadcast partner (Australia)
• Virgin Australia - Airline partner
• The Hertz Corporation - Rental car partner