Defending champions Perth Heat (2011) Games played 16 | Teams qualified 4 Champions Perth Heat | |
Dates 26 January – 12 February 2011 Attendance 19,786 (1,237 per game) | ||
The 2012 Australian Baseball League postseason, known as the 2012 ConocoPhillips ABL Postseason due to naming rights sponsorship from ConocoPhillips, is being held from 26 January to 12 February 2012. The postseason is being contested by four of the six teams participating in the regular season, with the teams with the best winning percentages qualifying.
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In the semi-finals, the Adelaide Bite were the first team eliminated, defeated by the Sydney Blue Sox three games to one in Adelaide in the minor semi-final series. The Perth Heat became the first team to qualify for the championship series, by defeating the Melbourne Aces three games to one in the major semi-final series, held in Perth. The Aces defeated the Blue Sox in Melbourne, winning the preliminary final series three games to two. The Heat defeated the Aces for the second postseason series in a row, winning the championship series two games to one, to become ABL Champions in back–to–back seasons.
Format
At the conclusion of the regular season, the postseason involved the teams in a three-round structure. The first- and second-place teams played each other in the major semi-final, the winner of which proceeded directly to the championship series and the loser to the preliminary final. The winner of the minor semi-final between the third- and fourth-place teams also qualified for the preliminary final, while the loser was eliminated. Likewise, the winner of the preliminary final qualified for the championship series, the loser being eliminated. Unlike the previous postseason, where each round consisted of a best-of-three game series, both of the semi-finals and the preliminary final will be played out over best-of-five game series. The championship series will once again use a best-of-three game series.
Qualification
The Perth Heat were the first team to clinch a postseason position when they defeated the Brisbane Bandits in Perth on 8 January, and then clinched a first place finish in their next game when they defeated the Canberra Cavalry in Canberra on 12 January. The three remaining positions in the postseason, and the teams that would take them, were not determined until the last game was finished. The Melbourne Aces finished a half-game ahead of a four-way tie between the Adelaide Bite, Brisbane Bandits, Canberra Cavalry and Sydney Blue Sox to secure the remaining spot in the major semi-final. The Bite and the Blue Sox finished third and fourth respectively after the ABL's tiebreakers were applied.
Until only a few hours before their final game of the season, Cavalry officials believed that regardless of the result in the game they would progress to the postseason based on their interpretation of the tiebreaking procedures. However they were informed by the League that was not the case. Canberra's interpretation was that once Adelaide were determined as having finished third, a separate tiebreaker would be held between themselves, Brisbane and Sydney and excluding Adelaide, which would have result in Canberra progressing. The actual process used was to continue with the next level of the tiebreaker as Brisbane and Sydney as they were still level after using the head-to-head records between the four teams. As Sydney had won their season series with Brisbane 5-4, Sydney claimed the final postseason position, Brisbane were left in fifth place, and Canberra in sixth.