ABL Season 2019/20

[kc]

With the ABL kicking off on 21 November, there is enormous interest building and there is a plethora of questions being raised in anticipation of the new season.

Can the all-conquering Brisbane Bandits make it five on the trot? Can Perth Heat revive its glory days of the early years in this resurrected league? Can Canberra Cavalry add a second pennant to its success of seven years ago?

Will Auckland Tuatara be the big improver on its magnificent new field, as many expect? Can Sydney Blue Sox build on a terrific first season under owner Adam Dobb? Should we expect a re-badged Adelaide Giants to rise to the occasion in 2019/20?

Will Geelong-Korea will be prepared in time for season start? How will Graeme Lloyd go in his managerial role with a largely unknown squad?

Can Melbourne Aces deliver under returning manager Jon Deeble? How is Melbourne Ballpark looking after undergoing a major revamp by the new club franchisee? Will it draw the crowds sadly lacking over the past few seasons?

So much to consider. So much to come.

What do you have?

[Goblin]

Its going to be interesting to how the Aces go under the new management.

Caught up with Wearnie and Frita when I was at the stadium last week.

They pointed out several improvements and updates around the ground which will be a plus.

The only disappointment to date is the list of players who have been named to date. Seem a bit like same same.

Strange mix of players from the Orix Buffaloes. Three outfielders and a pitcher who just had the one outing for them this year. (and as what seems like the same, is that they head home half way thru the season)

Add to that the signing of Quincy Latimore, another outfielder. He will be a major bonus but it means we will be heavy on outfielders, so many and so few spaces.

The pitching dept is looking promising. Will they have the offensive strength to back up the pitchers, only time will tell.

Go Aces !!!!

[Goblin]

Thanks to the hi tech work of Mick Wearne.

Video showing the Aces outfield warning track being created.

www.facebook.com/mick.wearne/videos/2772101052841763/

[kc]

Geelong/Korea contingent will arrive this Thursday, giving them just a couple of days to settle before practice games against the Aces at Altons (Saturday night) and Geelong (Sunday).

[Journeyman]

Giants took on a Japanese University side last night and won 12-2. Hard to get a read from that result though because it's hard to know how good the Japanese are compared to the ABL teams they will face. If I had to take a guess based on last night I think they will struggle against Brisbane next week. A work in progress at this stage.

[Journeyman]

So much for my guess from the previous post, the Giants looked pretty good against Brisbane this weekend so it seems they may have made some improvements. It might be a little early to tell but if they keep it up they coud be heading to the playoffs again. They will miss Markus Solbach but have a few good replacements to take the slack and some decent offense too.

Brisbane are still looking good, although not quite up to speed yet.

[kc]

Giants' catcher is pretty handy, it seems....home grown boy, that Edwards lad.

Really interesting results in Round One. Just a pity that it was so hard to follow games live with some degree of ease.

GK improvement may be no surprise. I recall the Happy Rising CEO saying, 12 months ago, that his side would be "no good" first year, but would then be after a championship.

And the Aces? Well, a little hard to tell (as always, with a fluid roster), but they will clearly rely for offence on their one to five hitters, maybe excluding Luke Hughes, who could be a light of other days.

[Journeyman]

Nov 24, 2019 20:30:41 GMT 10 kc said:

Giants' catcher is pretty handy, it seems....home grown boy, that Edwards lad.

Really interesting results in Round One. Just a pity that it was so hard to follow games live with some degree of ease.

Mitch is a very good player KC and the thing I noticed is that they have speed on the basepaths, which put a lot of pressure on the Brisbane fielders.

There's a long way to go but a 4-0 start gives a glimmer of hope for the nexxt 36 games.

And the coverage of games pretty much sucks so far, let's hope it improves.

[kc]

Mitch is indeed a very good player, JM, who comes from an outstanding baseball family. I had the pleasure of playing with both his father and grandfather (in the same team) during the late 90s.

[player]

Wow, I have been catching up with what happened (and didn't happen) in the ABL over the weekend. I cannot believe how much online attention is focused on negative comment and so little on the games, the players and the excitement that we should be feeling in a new season.

Aren't the teams now owned under licence to private interests? If so, why aren't THEY accepting greater responsibility for streaming, for communications, for media releases, for Play by Play services and for active updating of websites? Why does Baseball Australia seem to be taking the lead role? For example, I have been told that Melbourne Aces have four paid media staff and a U.S. intern (here for a summer holiday) working for them. What are these people actually doing, apart from posting a few occasional pretty childish online video grabs?

FFS, the Geelong Korea website still highlights a Season Review for 2018/19! That is our shopfront being viewed by the rest of the world - so many of them baseball crazy! How can that happen, especially when there were such quality images and commentary being streamed back into Asia in the home series against Sydney? How amateurish must that make this league look?

Round One issues with some games being streamed, others not, and with no coherent timetable about who will be providing what. Has the league, and Baseball Australia, really sold out to Kayo Sports? Australian Baseball is simply not in a position to set a paywall for such a minor sport. Sure, we need to encourage people to go to games. But if they can't go to games (for all sorts of reasons), then it is madness to deny people direct access to streaming - or at the very least to timely Play by Play and statistics that have been available since rebirth of the ABL.

People make a big deal about how mainstream media keeps neglecting Australian baseball in favour of other sports. Well, the fact remains that if Australian baseball cannot get its own house in order, and if it keeps shooting itself in the foot as it seems to have done over Opening Round this time (again), then we will forever be a laughing stock.

[kc]

While the ABL season is but a pup, there is already some interesting win/loss separation between clubs - along with consolidation of a couple (Brisbane and Sydney) after Opening Round.

Brisbane Bandits (4-4) are back on track with their Round Two home sweep of Geelong Korea (3-5), which consistently fought back from deficits and which appears a vastly improved unit from last season, when it struggled for hitting and pitching depth. While rare defensive miscues cost it an extra-innings Game Two, Geelong Korea has proven it will be a tough opponent this time around.

Melbourne Aces (6-2) swept a typically competitive Auckland Tuatara (1-7), by virtue of a couple of late revivals and an offensive outburst in Game Three, when the Aces amassed thirteen hits to seven and put up four-spots in the fifth and sixth.

Coming off a disappointing Opening Round in Geelong, Sydney Blue Sox (4-4) were a different proposition at home, where they conceded a mere run over their first three games to Adelaide Giants (5-3), who registered one of only two away ABL wins of the round in the final stanza of that series.

After pinching a ten innings Game One in a thriller dominated by the pitchers, Perth Heat (6-2) outgunned Canberra Cavalry (3-5), which struggled on offensive conversion – especially in Game Three - before producing a blistering late offensive outburst that nailed a win in the series finale.

League officials will surely be buoyed by attendances posted for Round Two. Whether they represent actual attendances or tickets sold, the numbers form a consistently impressive contrast with those during duration of the 2018/19 ABL season. Brisbane was credited with 2221 people for its Saturday doubleheader (its game average last season was 832), Melbourne drew 1353 for its Saturday twin-bill (game average of 663 last year), Perth attracted 1751 on Saturday (against an average of 1082) and Sydney drew 949 to its single Saturday game (compared with an average of 906 for all of last season). Promising indeed, and it will be interesting to see if an apparent trend holds up in weeks to come – especially if Auckland and Geelong can build upon modest numbers in their opening rounds.

On an incidental note……while it has likely been mentioned - and accounted for - elsewhere in our world of burgeoning Aussie baseball media coverage, I am intrigued by the coloured letter on the left side of the Geelong Korea jersey. Some squad members are carrying a red “G”, some a white “K’”, others a yellow “P” and a few more a red “T”. Any clues?

[doubleplay]

Did something I haven't done in a while and that was a trip to Altona on Saturday for the second game of the day. It was a festive occasion with some reasonable baseball played. What was probably disappointing was the ridiculous drinks prices. But apart from that, it was still a very enjoyable night, which I will do again soon.

[stuartcapel]

Dec 1, 2019 15:41:46 GMT 10 kc said:

While the ABL season is but a pup, there is already some interesting win/loss separation between clubs - along with consolidation of a couple (Brisbane and Sydney) after Opening Round.

Brisbane Bandits (4-4) are back on track with their Round Two home sweep of Geelong Korea (3-5), which consistently fought back from deficits and which appears a vastly improved unit from last season, when it struggled for hitting and pitching depth. While rare defensive miscues cost it an extra-innings Game Two, Geelong Korea has proven it will be a tough opponent this time around.

Melbourne Aces (6-2) swept a typically competitive Auckland Tuatara (1-7), by virtue of a couple of late revivals and an offensive outburst in Game Three, when the Aces amassed thirteen hits to seven and put up four-spots in the fifth and sixth.

Coming off a disappointing Opening Round in Geelong, Sydney Blue Sox (4-4) were a different proposition at home, where they conceded a mere run over their first three games to Adelaide Giants (5-3), who registered one of only two away ABL wins of the round in the final stanza of that series.

After pinching a ten innings Game One in a thriller dominated by the pitchers, Perth Heat (6-2) outgunned Canberra Cavalry (3-5), which struggled on offensive conversion – especially in Game Three - before producing a blistering late offensive outburst that nailed a win in the series finale.

League officials will surely be buoyed by attendances posted for Round Two. Whether they represent actual attendances or tickets sold, the numbers form a consistently impressive contrast with those during duration of the 2018/19 ABL season. Brisbane was credited with 2221 people for its Saturday doubleheader (its game average last season was 832), Melbourne drew 1353 for its Saturday twin-bill (game average of 663 last year), Perth attracted 1751 on Saturday (against an average of 1082) and Sydney drew 949 to its single Saturday game (compared with an average of 906 for all of last season). Promising indeed, and it will be interesting to see if an apparent trend holds up in weeks to come – especially if Auckland and Geelong can build upon modest numbers in their opening rounds.

On an incidental note……while it has likely been mentioned - and accounted for - elsewhere in our world of burgeoning Aussie baseball media coverage, I am intrigued by the coloured letter on the left side of the Geelong Korea jersey. Some squad members are carrying a red “G”, some a white “K’”, others a yellow “P” and a few more a red “T”. Any clues?

The coloured letters on the GK uniforms represent the players parent club back in Korea, or in the case of the yellow 'P', the Pittsburgh Pirates organisation.

GK ran a good venue in Round One, but the Aces ran an organisation best weekend that I've witnessed over the clubs first decade. Despite the conditions largely working against them, staff and volunteers did a great job.

Lost in the Sunday comeback was the umpires ensuring the game, which would have unlikely been rescheduled, was played to completion. Auckland was probably impacted the most late by the weather but unless the new owners build a domed stadium, that will always impact matches.

Well done to all out at MBP this weekend.

[kc]

Ah yes, of course! Thanks Stuart.

[kc]

UPDATE:  Perth Heat sealed a series win over Geelong/Korea with a 7-3 result on Sunday night. This places Perth (11-5) atop the Southwest standings, while GK (6-10) remains in the cellar of that group.

Auckland (7-9), Sydney (9-7) and Adelaide (10-6) came away from Round Four with crucial 3-1 series wins as the Australian Baseball League season continues to confound some of the pundits.

Taking its first two games narrowly, Sydney Blue Sox outgunned Canberra in a subsequent slugfest before the Cavalry exploded in the finale for an 18-2 blast engineered by eighteen hits - including six homers - and two seven-run innings. While Blue Sox now head the Northeast standings, Canberra (5-11) has heaps of ground to claw back if it is to be a post-season factor.

Clearly a more potent offensive unit this time around, Auckland shook off a narrow Game One loss with a last-gasp win in the second clash – delivered by a late three-run bomb – before a further two quality winning games that drew the Tuatara level with league yardstick Brisbane (7-9).

Rocked by a heartbreaking Game One loss after looking home for all money, Melbourne Aces (9-7) atoned for a one-run loss in the first of the Saturday doubleheader by producing early and late winning offence in the nightcap before the Giants dashed any hopes of a split with a three-run Jordan McArdle bomb in the eighth innings on Sunday.

Looking to win its home series against a vastly improved Geelong/Korea (6-9), Perth Heat (10-5) held on in a high-scoring series opener and the visitors finished with a four-run winning rush before the Heat prevailed – in the heat – in a Game Three slugfest, setting the scene for an enthralling Sunday night finale.

The ABL season is being covered far more comprehensively by Baseball Australia and most clubs than it has been in previous years, thankfully taking the pressure off others – including members of this Forum – to feel an obligation to step up. Nevertheless, a few incidental insights from Round Four for what they are worth…….

While the club experienced some early season trauma, Auckland Tuatara is clearly gathering winning momentum and will be a tough ongoing assignment – especially at home, where it may find itself better adapted to seven-innings contests.

Its quality streaming of games to its Asian audience suggests that Geelong/Korea – a much improved outfit – is acutely conscious of the love and support being extended its way, including by the core of Geelong baseball diehards who continue to rock up to every game. While Geelong Advertiser is providing a modicum of mainstream media support, it is a pity that club or league management has not seen fit to ensure that there is far greater English-speaking coverage provided through the website, Facebook or local baseball interests.

The apparent ABL reluctance to engage qualified, competent and enthusiastic Australian personnel to help out with media work has been something of a mystery, for many years now. However, in saying that, kudos to our overseas visitors and interns who have committed to a high level of preparation and professionalism – including the provision of comprehensive game notes made available in particular by Melbourne Aces and Perth Heat. Outstanding work.

Speaking of Melbourne Aces and their media/promotional efficiency, the Christmas clip posted online a couple of days ago was by a far stretch – to my mind - the most engaging and most entertaining offering of any club since ABL resurrection. One that sets a benchmark for other clubs.

It was inclusive, it was clever, and it was fun. Just what this sport should be!

And while on benchmarks, Delmon Young is surely on target to smash ABL records for round-trippers and RBIs on the basis of what we have seen thus far. The big man has already swatted six home runs and driven in twenty as a key player for the Melbourne Aces, although there are plenty of other sluggers around the league – including local Aussie products in Robbie Glendinning, Curtis Mead and Aaron Whitefield – who are proving capable of creating offensive carnage for their respective clubs.

Crowd numbers – bums on seats – needed always to be a consideration if a second incarnation of the Australian Baseball League was to have any chance of being a success. Projections of ten years ago suggested that 1500 at any/every game was about the ballpark figure to ensure ongoing viability of the league. While there are other factors impacting on financial well-being – including effective marketing, advertising and streaming coverage – there are two especially dominant factors that have continued to impact on attendance numbers.

First, baseball is a minor sport in this country – one that has historically struggled to gain a foothold and which may find its potential depleted even further should Australia not qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games, with the associated funding and exposure our participation would bring. While baseball people know that we are engaged in a terrific, family-oriented sport, attracting broader community interest and mainstream media attention remains an ongoing challenge.

Secondly, the current timing of the season is always going to make it tough for the ABL clubs to garner the support, the engagement and the attendance of baseball people who are already committed to the sport in a substantial manner – that is to say, as players, administrators and coaches at their own grassroots clubs. While individuals will of course go to occasional games and while grassroots clubs will avail themselves of group deals from time to time, the clash of seasons will continue to pose a problem.

For this round alone, attendance numbers were mixed. Canberra (677), Brisbane (806) and Perth (739) drew moderate figures on the Thursday, while Adelaide attracted 1029 on Friday night. However, for its Saturday doubleheader, West Beach could muster just 683 – which is hardly satisfactory if those numbers are correct.

Canberra drew 1028 on Friday and 1250 on Saturday, while Brisbane recovered from 1113 on Friday night to attract an impressive 2132 on Saturday. Perth had 864 through the gates on Friday, swelling to 1204 on Saturday.

UPDATE:  Sunday figures may or may not have illustrated a point about the clash between ABL and club baseball. Just 524 witnessed the Cavalry hitting carnage at Narrabundah, a modest 586 saw Perth seal a series win over Geelong/Korea (admittedly in oppressive weather conditions that may have been a deterrent), while Adelaide - with 613 on the sabbath - held up reasonably well compared with Saturday. It will be especially interesting to see the figures for Altona next weekend, when the Aces play host to Geelong/Korea and club ball is split across the Saturday and Sunday. Will there be any indication of a developing "local" rivalry? Will the core group committed to attending GK home games make the trek to Altona?

Some committed numbers person (c’mon Stuart) might like to do a more in-depth analysis of attendance for Australian Baseball League since the teams were placed in franchise arrangements.

Seems to me, though, that if the figures are accurate then we are progressing at a relatively modest pace – other than the greater support that you would expect in Brisbane (a four-time recent champion) and in Perth (whose sole team is on the other side of our massive continent, where baseball has historically enjoyed a decent foothold).

SCORES, STANDINGS, STATS:   ABL WEBSITE

[stuartcapel]

Was that a hint, KC?

Interesting to revert back to that original league spec regards the break even at 1500 for an average attendance. So far as we approach the half way point of season ten, only the 2013-14 Perth Heat, who averaged 1597 patrons that season, would have finished ahead based on old projections. Even for the Heat, who are the only team to ever average 1000+ patrons a game for each season, from that figure of 2013-14 to present date, they are down around a third, to 1067 this season.

Is that figure of a decade ago still relevant? Given the different team ownerships, no doubt the figure varies, however at this point, only two teams are into the four figures when it comes to average attendance through two home series this season. The new teams have remained largely constant (Auckland 406 up from 376 and GK 337 down from 352 though the Aces series will hopefully give a boost), while Perth is down about a percent and a half and Sydney up about seven percent – not bad considering the fires recently, but not a massive bump as yet.

Melbourne is currently about 16.5% up on last years attendance, from 663 to 772. Both series to date have been Friday-Saturday x 2 – Sunday open dates, however starting this weekend against Geelong-Korea the series revert to Thursday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday.

Hopefully this coming series against GK, which heralds in the beginning of the four open date series (Thursday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday) sees crowd numbers improve. It certainly is an improved ballpark experience this season.

Brisbaneis the big gainer so far in season 2019-20. No surprise for a four-time Champion? Consider in their first Championship season attendance rose from 989 to 1128 the DROPPED to 646 then 637 and bumped up to 832 last season.

So far in season 2019-20 the Bandits have risen 74.5% to 1452 patrons per game.

This has been achieved through games scheduled on Thursday night, Friday night and double header Saturdays to close the series. This remains the norm for the Bandits aside from four single game open dates for their Christmas-New Year series against Melbourne. How attendance fluctuates, should it fluctuate at all, will be worth watching. Can the Bandits ride their luck successfully over the northern ‘wet season’? Won’t be easy to reschedule any Friday night fixtures with Saturday double headers to close a series – does anyone remember the triple-header played at Altona in the old ABL?

The big gainer outside of the Bandits has been the Adelaide Giants, who have near doubled their crowd attendance average from 2017-18 when they finished last in the standings, both on the field in results, and off the field in average attendance (474)

Currently the Giants are at an average of 805, which is 51% up on last years average of 533. A young, exciting team, the Adelaide Crows second year as owners and the rebrand have helped raise attendance, with Friday’s four figure crowd helped by the little leaguers who play outside the main diamond getting into the ABL game after wards.

Noticeable over the weekend was the buy-in by the Giants supporters, who have supported the team nickname change favourably if merchandise sales are anything to go by. I think I saw only two pieces of Bite merchandise for the weekend. Should they stay near the pointy end of the standings, this average could easily hit the four figure mark for the first time since the 2014-15 season, when they topped the standings and hosted the ABLCS.

The big drop off? Of all teams, Canberra, who is down over 31% from 1184 last year to 813. A refurbished ballpark, a team that was good last year and promised to be better this year (but so far has struggled to fire) – why the crowds are down…the recent fires may have played a factor, however the Cavalry cannot even fall back on a Hume Hwy series with the Blue Sox later in the season to help attendance – they hosted Sydney over the weekend.

[mackem]

Interesting that no-one has commented about the Aces winning the championship.

[stuartcapel]

Feb 15, 2020 17:41:46 GMT 10 mackem said:

Interesting that no-one has commented about the Aces winning the championship.

I'm still celebrating.

[kc]

And you are absolutely entitled to be doing so, Stuart, as a faithful supporter who has been there since the start!

[kc]

mackem, I don't think that anything should particularly be made of the fact that immediate comment has not been made in this Forum about the Aces' success.

As much as any, or many of us might be delighted with the club bringing the Claxton Shield back to Victoria, the Forum is these days not attracting a great deal of traffic and thereby not being as "front and centre" in discussions as it used to be.

Personally, I think it is great that the Aces have delivered - both on and off field! Well done to the entire organisation, who collectively know that their success is fundamental to the future viability of a national league.

[baseballnewby]

Well done to the Altona Aces, congratulations to the team and their supporters.