Barnstormers can take away a lot of positives from 2025 season

While there is bound to be some disappointment among Chatham-Kent Barnstormer players and fans with the team’s first-round playoff exit, there is also a lot of positives to take away from the team’s 2025 season.

The Barnstormers were eliminated last week in Hamilton, losing Game 4 15-4. The Cardinals won the best-of-five series three games to one.

Here are a few positives for the Barnstormers to build upon, as well as look back and reflect.

Batting title

Wheatley’s Evan Morrison led the Intercounty Baseball League in batting average, hitting .422. He was the only qualified IBL batter with a batting average over .400.

Morrison should be a prime contender for the IBL rookie-of-the-year.

He is going into his junior year at Grand Valley State in Michigan. Morrison was a hit machine last season for Grand Valley hitting .341 with an on-base average of .432 and slugging percentage of .484.

Young roster gets better

The team is young and definitely deeper than last year.

Homegrown players such as Morrison, Spencer Marcus, Lee Kucera, Spencer Morin, Andrew Groening, Braxton Haggith, Robert Mackie, Garrett Day, Eric Pettipiece, Brock Whitson, Catalin Morin and Aden Ryan give the team a strong nucleus to build on.

The Barnstormers have also done a good job bringing in imports who fit in well. Mizuki Akatsuka, Mitsuki Fukuda, Yushin Ohta and Sadler Goodwin all had a good season for the Barnstormers.

I am not sure people understand what a grind the IBL can be. I was driving past Chatham Memorial Arena on a weeknight at 2 a.m. and noticed a lot of commotion in the parking lot. Then it dawned on me, the Barnstormers had an out-of-town game that night and they must’ve just gotten back. Imagine getting into bed at 3 a.m. and then hearing the alarm to wake up a few hours later to put in an eight-hour day.

It’s hard to juggle work, family and kids when you are playing 42 games over a span of three months. Hopefully the players and coaches and do a good job of balancing their commitments going forward.

Attendance

Now in their second year, the Barnstormers had strong home attendance numbers all year. You have to remember that a couple years ago people weren’t sure IBL baseball could work in Chatham, but not only has it worked, other centres are looking at expansion clubs and are possibly planning using the Barnstormers’ marketing and team-building plans as templates.

The IBL, which has been around for over 100 years, set an annual record for attendance, with 218,648 fans attending. The Barnstormers attendance was over 20,000 for the season.

IBL Commissioner Ted Kalnins said strong attendance numbers show the league has never been more popular.

“Fans are flocking to our stadiums because of the engaging fan experience, with fun in-game entertainment, giveaways, theme nights and accessible players, all at an incredibly affordable price.”

To build on this momentum, it would be a smart idea for the IBL executives to take a good look at announcing the 2026 IBL all-star game will be held in Chatham. The Barnstormers off-field team, along with the municipality would knock it out of the park.

Park looking better

Fergie Jenkins Field received a number of upgrades during the pre-season and in-season. Stands were added down the baselines, increasing attendance by 544. A new clubhouse for the team was built, with attendance now at 1,443.

The park still has a quirky design, with a short right-field home run porch, but quirky and cozy is okay.

Franchise record for wins

The Barnstormers set a franchise record for wins by going 22-20 this summer in their second season. They also had the first playoff win in the team’s history, an exciting win in front of their home fans.

Adversity makes you stronger

The Barnstormers had injury issues, had their manager (Gil Rondon) resign near the end of the regular season and had four-game and five-game losing streaks.

Furthermore, the much ballyhooed mid-season signing of 2024 Intercounty Baseball League MVP Seth Strong flopped. Strong couldn’t find his 2024 magic, hitting .182 in 10 games before being released.

While that doesn’t sound positive, the Barnstormers showed resiliency, battling in games even when they were down double-digit in runs.