The Australian Baseball League is opening the 2017/2018 season on Thursday with a matchup between the Brisbane Bandits and the Canberra Cavalry. Other matchups in opening week include Sydney Blue Sox vs. Adelaide Bite and Melbourne Aces vs. Perth Heat. The regular season will be played through January 27. The semifinals are slated to start on February 2 with the top four teams qualified.
As usual there are plenty of notable players in the ABL this year. Just recently it was announced that Chinese Professional Baseball League superstar Chih-Sheng Lin from Taiwan is joining the Brisbane Bandits for this year’s campaign. Germany’s Donald Lutz is also again playing for the Bandits. Meanwhile Dutch players Loek van Mil and Bas Nooij are on the roster of the Adelaide Bite.
More European flavor can be found on all six rosters, as several current and former European import players are spending the northern hemisphere winter in Australia including Max MacNabb, Louis Cohen, Mitch Nilsson, Justin Erasmus and Jacob Younis to name a few. Additionally, a couple of prospects from Major League Baseball’s farm systems are in Down Under as well like Max Beatty, Garrett Whitley and Gabriel Arias.