The ABL has been given new life

Hello world.
This little old blog has not been updated in quite a while, and there's been a heck of a lot happening on the Oz MLB Player scene: we have had two Aussies go to Divisional Series for Major League teams; there has been some increased game time given to a number of other Aussie players - Brad Thomas, Trent Oeltjen, Rich Thompson; Ryan Rowland-Smith had a bit of a bastard of a year (as did the Mariners fullstop) but has kept fighting hard.

And...we have a new local professional league. The ABL is back baby.

Now I will admit it, I was a little skeptical about whether the ABL would be successful. While Major League Baseball threw its support behind it, I was thinking there were too many factors suggesting it would not work. Crowds at the Claxton Shield over the past couple of years have been pretty poor. There is increasing competition through T20 cricket and the A-League, and most top class Aussie players play winter ball in South America.

However, so far I have been pleasantly surprised.

The ABL has relaunched and appears to be doing a pretty good job promoting itself using some (reasonably) decent websites and social media.

The Sydney Blue Sox season memberships sold out.

The roster for the Blue Sox contains a number of Major League players, including RRS and Trent Oeltjen, as well as ex-MLB and Japanese journeyman Chris Oxspring.

The ABL have announced official sponsorship from Rawlings, and has launched a merchandise range through New Era, including official 5950 caps.

They seem to have attracted quite a bit of sponsorship (albeit it is somewhat 'second tier sponsorship').

So now, I am feeling a little optimistic and have something to write about. Huzzah!

A few people manage to stumble across this page through google searches for Aussies in the MLB, so I figure I might do my thing for promotion and coverage of the ABL.

So come back soon, expect some player profiles and background information soon, with some live coverage and game reviews available in the near future.