Australian Baseball League 2025-26 to open on Thursday, November 13
The Australian Baseball League (ABL) 2025-26 will open on Thursday, November 13 with the Brisbane Bandits hosting the Sydney Blue Sox at Viticon Stadium, while the Perth Heat will host the Adelaide Giants at NSR Hire Ballpark.
The regular season will finish on January 18, 2026. Doubleheaders will consist of a seven-inning and a nine-inning game. Postponed doubleheaders will be two seven-inning games.
The top two teams after the regular season advance to the best-of-three ABL Championship Series. The first-place finisher will host the three games.
Canberra won the 2024/2025 Australian Baseball League title.
The rosters will include 22 players (with a minimum of 12 Australians) and two emerging players (Australians aged 25 or younger as of February 1, 2026). Each team may nominate a 35-man Registered List, including 10 Emerging Players, 11 Affiliate Import Players (under contract with MLB, KBO, CPBL and NPB clubs) and 2 Independent Import players. A player must compete in at least three series to be eligible for the postseason.
The Adelaide Giants roster will feature four players under contract with the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB): first baseman Yu Aramaki, infielder Yusei Ishuzaka, left-handed pitcher Yamato Shiroki and right-hander Tomoki Tamura. The Giants also signed former MLB pitcher Jack O'Loughlin.
The Brisbane Bandits will have two players of NPB's Yokohama Baystars, catcher and first baseman Kyosuke Mashiko and right-hander Hayate Nakagawa, and two of the Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organisation (KBO) league, left-hander Seunghyn Lee and outfielder Sooho Han.
The four rosters will combine 12 players under contract with eight Major League Baseball (MLB) organisations. The Philadelphia Phillies will also send two coaches and staff to Adelaide.
The list of affiliated players includes infielder and outfielder Max Durrington, who represented Australia at the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup 2019 and recently helped Australia qualify for the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2026.