Press Release Australian Baseball League
The final three rounds of the season are about magic–numbers, that is. With just 12 games remaining in the 2016/17 Australian Baseball League season, the playoffs are still in sight for all six teams. The rule is simple: win, and you’re in.
There are certain clubs for whom the idea of playing in February is a much more close and tangible reality than others. If the Jet Couriers Melbourne Aces sweep the Canberra Elite Cavalry and the Bite lose one game, the Minor Premiership belongs to the Aces for the first time in the history of the new ABL. Could it happen? We’ll see this weekend.
MELBOURNE (21-7) at CANBERRA (16-12)
The first-place Aces and second-place Cavalry collide for what could be a momentous clash in the capital this weekend. The two teams faced off in Round 4 in Melbourne, and the host Aces took that series 3-1.
Melbourne are any combination of four wins and one Bite losses away from clinching the Minor Premiership, their first in the history of the new ABL. Pitching has been the key to the Aces’ success all season long, and that’s continued with the addition of Major Leaguer Jeremy Guthrie, along with the overarching dominance of Mark Hamburger. Melbourne’s pitching staff has a collectively-competitive 3.07 ERA, and strike out, on average, one batter per inning. On offence, despite the loss of Ronald Acuna, aggressive baserunning remains a key part of Melbourne’s game. The Aces and the Cavalry rank 1-2 atop the league stolen bases leaderboard, with 36 and 31, respectively.
However, as dominant as the Aces have been as a pitching staff, the Cavalry hitters are just as on top of their game in the batter’s box. Canberra have led the league all season long with a team batting average that frequently flirts with .300 (it’s .295 right now). They don’t score runs at the same incredible pace as at the beginning of the season, but still average just over five per game, above the Aces’ mark (5.14 to 4.57).
The Fort at MIT Ballpark needs to batten the hatches for four games of closely contested, gritty baseball this weekend.
PERTH (11-17) at ADELAIDE (13-15)
For the first time this season, the Heat enter a new round as series winners the round before. The Bite host them this weekend in a literal rematch of the 2015 ABLCS. Adelaide won 3-1 out west in Round 4, the two teams’ first matchup of the season.
Buoyed by the desire In doing so, the Heat showed something that was missing from the club for most of this season: late-inning fight. Perth are 6-4 in their last 10 games, and have a three-game win streak they hope to continue on Thursday night in Adelaide. The Heat haven’t been great on the road this year (3-9), but they have momentum and a four-game clean slate ahead of them to improve this weekend.
Despite the series loss last weekend, Adelaide’s playoff hopes are still alive and thriving. The Bite’s three losses in the series were decided by four runs or fewer, deficits that aren’t unsurmountable when your lineup has three of the top four league RBI leaders. A winning record against the Heat so far this season, paired with a weekend homestand devoted to raising awareness of childhood cancer through CanTeen, means that the Bite are in prime position to regain the momentum they’ll need if they want to reach a third consecutive championship series.
SYDNEY (11-17) at BRISBANE (13-16)
Two teams whose playoff hopes are starting to hang on the fringes face off this weekend in Brisbane. The Blue Sox hosted the Bandits in Sydney in Round 4, and the two teams split the series. Both sides were on the losing end of the overall results last round, with the Bandits falling to Melbourne in Melbourne and the Blue Sox dropping a series to the Heat in Perth.
The losses and win last weekend were fairly indicative of the Bandits’ strengths at the moment. Brisbane has emerged as the leading run-scoring team in the league, with 156 on the season (average of 5.57 per game), and also rank second with a .284 team batting average. The club scored 19 runs in their lone win last weekend, one of the highest totals in the league this season. However, the Bandits’ pitching staff, though recently reinforced with the addition of Ryan Rowland-Smith, has a league-worst 5.20 ERA and has allowed a league-worst 31 home runs.
The Blue Sox, on the other hand, have the opposite problem. They’re middle-of-the-pack in team ERA (4.47, third) and team WHIP (1.47, second). However, Sydney’s offence has struggled mightily, scoring the second-lowest runs (121) and posting the lowest team batting average (.240) and team slugging percentage (.336) in the league right now.