The Canberra Cavalry face the serious risk of being unable to field a team for their opening series against the Perth Heat and could be forced to borrow players from their ABL opponents.
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It's thrown their upcoming season into turmoil and raised questions about their ability to compete for the 2020-21 Claxton Shield.
Forfeits would be viewed very poorly by the ABL head office, who recently came out all guns blazing when the Auckland Tuatara withdrew from the league.
Cavalry players have voiced their concerns about the roster to management, with many having more on the line than just the upcoming ABL season - there's also potential spots at next year's Olympic Games in Tokyo to worry about.
It's believed the players were yet to receive what they deemed a satisfactory response.
Cavalry chief executive Donn McMichael said they had six imports landing in Sydney over the weekend, but he felt it was unlikely they would be out of their two-weeks' quarantine in time to fly to Perth for game one on December 18.
While McMichael was hopeful they might play some part in the Heat series, it's believed none of the six were leaving until Saturday USA-time and all will be unavailable for the opening stand.
McMichael said he had 14 Australian-based players signed for the upcoming season, which would leave eight spots on the roster that needed to be filled for the Perth trip.
It's believed the other ABL clubs voiced their concerns, but were willing to help out in the best interests of the competition.
ABL chief executive Cam Vale visited Canberra on Friday.
McMichael blamed the ACT government for not providing a letter of approval until the 11th hour - although Australian Border Force told the government no such letter was required.
"We are struggling still to get players in, but I wouldn't say that [we won't have enough players for Perth] at all," he said.
"At this stage, if we are running short of players then we have got an option of taking players from the home side - which is not ideal - but we don't know those figures until first of all everyone lands and secondly until the players get their leave approved so it's still up in the air a bit.
"We've got 14 [local players]. You'd have to talk to them about [their concerns]. I've communicated with them.
"They're concerned about whether we'll have enough on the roster.
"It continues to go back to the fact that we didn't get this letter of approval until a minute to 12 basically."
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It's a big summer for Australian baseballers given the sport is making a potentially one-off appearance at the Tokyo Olympics.
With the Aussies hoping to qualify, Cavalry players like Steve Kent, Robbie Perkins, David Kandilas, Cam Warner and Josh Warner would all be hoping to use the summer to stake their claims for the national team.
Being part of a strong Cavalry team will only enhance their chances of being part of Australian coach David Nilsson's squad.
McMichael said the six imports were former Major League pitcher Shawn Morimando, Zach Wilson, Tucker Nathans, Chavez Young, Samad Taylor and ex-Adelaide Giant Mikey Reynolds.
"We've got six arriving in the next couple of days. We've been disadvantaged by the very late letter of approval from the ACT government," he said.
"Because we weren't able to get everything we needed as soon as we needed it so we're a bit behind the eight ball, but we're working on it.
"We're hopeful that it works out. It's line ball. It's very close. The first game could be tough, but who knows after that."