The Windy City Thunderbolts entered the 2019 season with high expectations.
After a disappointing 2018 campaign, where they went 41-54, the Thunderbolts nearly cleared house. They hired a new manager in Brian Smith and almost completely overhauled their pitching staff and starting lineup.
With high hopes, the Thunderbolts started the season on May 9th when they travelled to Joliet to play the Joliet Slammers. On that chilly spring night, the Thunderbolts had a gem of a pitching performance from Adam Oller, who went six innings and only allowed one run.
However, they could not get anything going on offense and lost 2-1. After a quick series in Lake Erie, the Thunderbolts opened their home schedule on May 14th when they played the Evansville Otters. Windy City won that game 7-3, mostly thanks to a strong pitching performance from Oller and a strong batting output from Dash Winningham.
The Thunderbolts finished May with pretty average play, ending the month with a 9-10 record. Windy City kicked off June with a bang, defeating the River City Rascals 4-3 in a wild 11 inning affair. From then on, the Thunderbolts played some mediocre baseball, eventually entering the end of the month with a 17-24 record.
Momentum seemed to start turning in Windy City’s favor though, when they travelled to Marion, Illinois to play the Southern Illinois Miners in a double header. The Thunderbolts came from behind in game one to win 6-5 and had a near no-hitter from Cole Bellair in game two to win 3-0. After a few more weeks of average play, the Thunderbolts entered the All-Star break with a 22-29 record.
The Thunderbolts started the second half of the season with some below average play, going 7-11 to finish the month of July, which nearly knocked them out of the playoff picture.
However, they did end July with a wild win. The Thunderbolts were playing the Washington Wild Things in an extra innings affair. Windy City had the game-winning run on third, but he was caught in a rundown. However, the Washington pitcher accidentally threw the ball away, allowing the run to score and the Thunderbolts to win.
The Thunderbolts entered August with a 29-40 record, needing a serious run of wins in order to keep their playoff hopes alive. Windy City got some help at the beginning of the month when they signed Michael Mateja and Tanner Gardner, two players who would become crucial to Windy City’s offense, during August.
However, those two were not enough, and the Thunderbolts went 13-15 in August and missed the playoffs by 12 games. However, they did end the season with a bang.
In the final game of the year, Windy City beat the Florence Freedom by a score of 17-1, scoring 11 runs in the fourth inning. Despite this, the Thunderbolts ended the season with a 42-54 record, winning one more game than they did in 2018.
However, Windy City did have some great players, including star pitcher Tyler Thornton, the aforementioned Gardner and Mateja, and star shortstop Brynn Martinez. The Thunderbolts did not do great this year, but they definitely have the talent to make a run at the playoffs next year.