The 2018–19 Australian Baseball League season was the ninth year Australian Baseball League (ABL) season, and was held from 15 November 2018 to 2 February 2019. It was the first season that it was played with eight teams, as the league expanded for the first time. The Brisbane Bandits won the championship for the fourth consecutive season.
Teams
+ Teams in the ABL Team State / Territory Stadium South Australia Diamond Sports Stadium New Zealand McLeod Park Queensland Holloway Field Australian Capital Territory Narrabundah Ballpark Victoria Geelong Baseball Park Victoria Melbourne Ballpark Western Australia Baseball Park New South Wales Blue Sox Stadium
Regular season With the addition of the Auckland Tuatara and Geelong-Korea as expansion teams, the competition was split into a 'Northeast' and 'Southwest' division. The league retained a 10-round, 40 game schedule, with teams playing division rivals eight times and inter division teams four times.
+ Key Secured Semi-finals berth Secured Wild Card berth + Northeast Division Pos Team W L Pct. GB Home Away 1 Brisbane Bandits 25 15 1.0 12–8 13–7 2 Sydney Blue Sox 25 15 – 14–6 11– 3 Canberra Cavalry 23 17 2.0 13–7 10–10 4 Auckland Tuatara 14 26 11.0 8–12 6–14 + Southwest Division Pos Team W L Pct. GB Home Away 1 Perth Heat 24 16 – 12–8 12–8 2 Melbourne Aces 23 17 1.0 14–6 9–11 3 Adelaide Bite 19 21 5.0 10–10 9–11 4 Geelong-Korea 7 33 17.0 4–16 3–17
Statistical leaders
+ Batting leaders Stat Player Team Total AVG Gift Ngoepe Sydney Blue Sox .437 HR T.J. Bennett Brisbane Bandits 13 RBI Tristan Gray Perth Heat 41 R Tristan GrayTim Kennelly Perth HeatPerth Heat 38 H Dwayne Kemp Sydney Blue Sox 55 SB D.J. Burt Melbourne Aces 18
+ Pitching leaders Stat Player Team Total W Tim AthertonJosh GuyerSteve Kent Brisbane BanditsSydney Blue SoxCanberra Cavalry 7 L Jin-U Kim Geelong-Korea 8 ERA Shota Imanaga Canberra Cavalry 0.51 K Alex Maestri Sydney Blue Sox 78 IP Markus Solbach Adelaide Bite SV Todd Van Steensel Sydney Blue Sox 10
Postseason A new playoff structure was announced 29 August 2018 with the addition of a single wild card game between the fourth and fifth seeds prior to two rounds of best-of-three finals series.
The top seed 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.
Championship Series
References
External links The Australian Baseball League – Official ABL Website Official Baseball Australia Website