2017–18 Australian Baseball League season

The 2017–18 Australian Baseball League season was the eighth Australian Baseball League (ABL) season, and was held from 16 November 2017 to 11 February 2018. It was the last season of the ABL that was played with 6 teams, as the league expanded to eight teams for the 2018–19 season.

2017–18 Australian Baseball League season
League	Australian Baseball League
Sport	Baseball
Duration	16 November 2017 – 11 February 2018
Games	119
Teams	6
Total attendance	98,397
Regular season
Season MVP	Jake Fraley
Championship Series
Venue	Melbourne Ballpark
Champions	Brisbane Bandits (3rd title)
Runners-up	Canberra Cavalry

The league also saw a large spike in offensive production with the single season home-run, run, AVG, SLG & OPS records all broken and home runs doubled, leading to a juiced ball theory.

Teams

Teams in the ABL

Team	State / Territory	Stadium
Adelaide Bite	South Australia	Diamond Sports Stadium
Brisbane Bandits	Queensland	Holloway Field
Canberra Cavalry	Australian Capital Territory	Narrabundah Ballpark
Melbourne Aces	Victoria	Melbourne Ballpark
Perth Heat	Western Australia	Baseball Park
Sydney Blue Sox	New South Wales	Blue Sox Stadium

Regular season

Key

Clinched postseason berth

Adelaide Bite

Brisbane Bandits

Canberra Cavalry

Melbourne Aces

Perth Heat

Sydney Blue Sox

2017–18 regular season standings

Pos	Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Away
1	Brisbane Bandits	28	11	.718	–	15–4	13–7
2	Perth Heat	26	14	.650	2.5	12–8	14–6
3	Canberra Cavalry	21	18	.538	4.0	14–6	10–9
4	Melbourne Aces	17	23	.425	11.5	9–11	8–12
5	Sydney Blue Sox	13	27	.325	15.5	7–13	6–14
6	Adelaide Bite	11	29	.275	17.5	7–13	4–16

Postseason

	Semifinal Series					Championship Series
	1	Brisbane Bandits	1
	4	Melbourne Aces	0
						1	Brisbane Bandits	2
						3	Canberra Cavalry	1
	2	Perth Heat	1
	3	Canberra Cavalry	2

Statistical leaders

Batting leaders

Stat	Player	Team	Total
AVG	Jay Baum	Canberra Cavalry	.439
HR	T.J. Bennett Donald Lutz	Brisbane Bandits Brisbane Bandits	16
RBI	David Kandilas Chiang Chih-hsien	Canberra Cavalry Sydney Blue Sox	44
R	Jake Fraley	Perth Heat	50
H	Jay Baum Jake Fraley	Canberra Cavalry Perth Heat	61
SB	Jake Fraley	Perth Heat	39

Pitching leaders

Stat	Player	Team	Total
W	6 tied at	4 teams	5
L	Mark Hamburger Greg Mosel	Melbourne Aces Adelaide Bite	7
ERA	Frank Gailey	Canberra Cavalry	2.34
K	Ryan Bollinger Josh Tols	Brisbane Bandits Melbourne Aces	75
IP	Mark Hamburger	Melbourne Aces	67+1⁄3
SV	Cameron Lamb	Perth Heat	6

Championship Series

09 February 2018 18:00 (UTC+11:00) Game 1	Canberra Cavalry	5–1	Brisbane Bandits	Narrabundah Ballpark, Canberra Attendance: 2,275 Umpires: HP: Takahito Matsuda 1B: Trent Thomas 2B: Matthew Pearson 3B: Ben Nash
	WP: Brian Grening (1–0) Sv: Tyler Herr (1)	Boxscore	LP: Ryan Bollinger (0–1)
	HR: David Kandilas (1), Robbie Perkins (1)		HR: TJ Bennett (1)

10 February 2018 18:00 (UTC+10:00) Game 2	Brisbane Bandits	12–2	Canberra Cavalry	Holloway Field, Brisbane Attendance: 2,202 Umpires: HP: Tom West 1B: Mal Mackay 2B: Paul Latta 3B: Takahito Matsuda
	WP: Tim Atherton (1–0)	Boxscore	LP: Lake Bachar (0–1)
	HR: 2 Chih-Sheng Lin (2), Mitch Nilsson (1), 2 Andrew Campbell (2), David Sutherland (1), Donald Lutz (1)		HR: Travis Witherspoon (1)

11 February 2018 16:00 (UTC+10:00) Game 3	Brisbane Bandits	4–2	Canberra Cavalry	Holloway Field, Brisbane Attendance: 1,333 Umpires: HP: Mal Mackay 1B: Paul Latta 2B: Takahito Matsuda 3B: Tom West
	WP: Travis Blackley (1–0) Sv: Ryan Searle (1)	Boxscore	LP: Frank Gailey (0–1)
	HR: Mitch Nilsson (2), Adam Weisenberger (1)

External links

• The Australian Baseball League Archived 2020-09-26 at the Wayback Machine – Official ABL Website
• Official Baseball Australia Website