The Twin City Thunderchickens finished their regular season last weekend against the tough Colona Hustlers. In third place, we were five games up on the Molly Putts Marauders and six up on the Northside Hitmen. We just needed to stay in the top four to move on to the playoffs. Piece of cake, right?
This was the situation going into the last month. Keep in mind, teams need to be in fourth place or higher to make the playoffs according to IAL rules.
Well, we ended up losing the first six games of the nine-game series against Dan. Fortunately, we were able to win two of the last three including the last game of the season. Worthy of note, Luke Voit continued his homerless streak until the seventh game of the series when he hit two. That’s a total of 18 games spanning three nine-games series.
The Thunderchickens finished at 85-77 and are at the mercy of the results of two other series. Fortunately, the two wins give me a buffer.
A look at the Thunderchickens 2021 season
Going into the 2021 season, I honestly did not think of the Thunderchickens as a playoff team. I probably would have drafted differently if I did. We had a successful opening weekend at 16-14 which gave me pause to think. For most of the year, we just sort of hung out in third place. We weren’t going to compete with Dan’s Hustlers or Dennis Jennings’ Global Glaciers (who have already hit 100 wins with one month left) and Don Smith’s Marauders were always knocking on our door.
So who were the big contributors?
At first glance, we can’t ignore Luke Voit’s 58 homers and 129 rbis. Voit (1-1-1-5) was a bit inconsistent which made me grateful for Eric Hosmer. That said, Voit’s bat in lineup was a threat.
Manny Machado provided a big bat (44 HR, 116 rbi) along with good defense at third. One thing I liked about Manny is that he played most every day.
Second baseman Cavan Biggio batted at or near the top of the lineup for the Thunderchickens in 2021. With his on-base potential and Machado and Voit batting behind him he had no problem scoring 102 runs. Interestingly, Biggio led the team with 47 doubles while homering 22 times.
Catcher Yan Gomes gets his due reward! A few years after he had a 15-13 on his card, he was elected to the IAL All-Star team! He settled down to a .288 average with 19 homers for the year.
Honestly, I was impressed by the performance of outfielder Brian Goodwin. He hit .258 and struck out more often than I would have liked. However, in limited play (388 AB), he hit 31 doubles and 21 homers and plated 64 times. It was nice to have a fast baserunner who wasn’t OF-1.
A big winner was Joey Wendle. He had that kind of card that was atypical of most of those in 2021. While he tailed off towards the end of the season (.267), he was a solid player at short.
Dogs
I used Kyle Lewis a fair amount because he was decent enough in the field (OF-2) compared to Kyle Schwarber or Franmil Reyes but mostly because of his on-base potential (five 14s). Lewis ended up batting .211 and worse, had a .309 OBP. I will have to check but he may have set an all-time team record for strikeouts at 169.
I knew J.D. Martinez was going to have a down year but I was a little (okay, a lot) disappointed in his results. In 506 at-bats, he hit .194 with just 12 homeruns and only 43 rbis in the 6th or 7th spot in the lineup. By the end of the season, I started hitting him 8th. His defense (OF-1) didn’t redeem him either.
Thunderchicken arms
I can confidently say that I am the only manager in the IAL whose best pitcher has an R rating. Toward the end of season, Antonio Senzatela (BRZ) was a threat to win 20 games. He ended up with a 17-10 record and a 3.44 ERA. Senz walked 70 and struck out 90 in 217 1/3 innings.
Kyle Freeland (C) went 13-10 with a 4.05 and led the team in strikeouts with 175 (with no strikeout letters). J.A. Happ (BY) was 10-7 with a miniscule 2.82 ERA. Dakota Hudson pitched well (3.84 ERA) but didn’t get many decisions (4-6).
The bullpen was hit and miss. Fellow IAL manager Marcus Bunch warned me about Eric Yardley and boy, was he right! Yardley was an A&C but he didn’t pitch like it. He collected 30 saves but his 4-8 record doesn’t begin to reflect his negative impact.
Dylan Floro (7-9, 3.77 ERA) was a positive influence so much so that his manager used him too much early on. Floro (BZ) was regulated to a short role and excelled there. He would be brought in when Jeurys Familia would load the bases (and would generally get out of the jam). To Familia’s credit, his ERA was 8.00+ by midseason and he got it down to 5.56 by season’s end.
Here are batting and pitching stats for the 2021 Twin City Thunderchickens.
Players who are saying goodbye this year
Jason Kipnis – an original T-chick draftee
Nick Markakis – long time Thunderchicken
Joey Gerber – one and done Illini
Wilson Ramos – had a great 2021 MLB start but he’s gone
Dakota Hudson – jury’s still out if I protect him
Tanner Roark – that’s two former Illini leaving the fold
Eric Yardley – time to find a real closer
Seven players leaving means I will have seven draft picks in the 2022 IAL draft. From the looks of next year’s team, I will need them.
Will I make the playoffs this year? If I say “most likely”, will I be jinxing myself? Marcus Bunch and Don Smith are playing a series today and that may provide some answers.
The Illowa APBA League will meet to hold the 2021 postseason and will draft for its 2022 season on February 18-20.
