When the KC Tornadoes won the ABL World Series in 2017, they were team that was ahead of schedule. The team was coming off a franchise-record 97-loss season. Management was confident that the Championship pieces were in the fold, but it would take time for them to gel. A few years at least. But in 2017, the team pulled off an amazing turnaround, going from 2nd-worst record in the league to ABL Champs in just one season.
In 2018, the KC Tornadoes came into the year burdened with something for the very first time in franchise history-- expectations. The team was in place, and they just had to find a way to capitalize... again. But a ton of things did not go according to plan this year. Starting SS Mike Rhodes was injured in the first month of the season... and never won his job back, as savy veteran Stephen Everett flashed some of his retro-form and took over the SS role for the year. Favorite Son Howard Lawrence became an overnight liability at 3B defensively and gave way to 20 year old Pedro Gomez. Lawrence was later released. Regulars James Riley (2B), Claude Morin (LF), and Curt Hall (C) all gave up a good chunk of their AB's to team newcomers Larry Strafford, Shunso Meshizuka, and Gary Lawson. The pitching staff was not immune either. Two of the team's best relievers from the year before simply vanished. Glen Rush vanished literally with a season long trip to the DL after just 15 innings, and Robert Cates vanished figuratively after posting an ERA over 6 for the year. And then there were the injuries... one after another. A team that was relatively healthy in 2017, was beset by injuries in their second run to the title. At one point, the team had their starting 1B, DH, 2B, SS, RF, CF, and staff ace all on the DL at the same time. Staff Ace Reynaldo Martinez missed about 4 months of the season. Star leadoff man Oliver North was injured six separate times in 2018, with the final injury causing the tablesetter to miss the last two weeks of the regular season and all of the playoffs.
Yet despite all of these setbacks, the team found a way to adapt and overcome. The Tornadoes were down two games to nothing in the World Series against Montreal, a team that won 105 regular season games. But again, the Tornadoes found a way. They came back to KC where they shelled their old nemesis Maurice "Dough Boy" Gould in a 10-0 victory in Game 3, and then won both Game 4 and Game 5 with walkoff hits in the bottom of the 9th. Perhaps the game that best highlights the resiliency of this team was that Game 5 victory at Debris Field. At stake in that game was the opportunity to go up 3-2 in the series, and the Bandits opened the game red hot, rolling to a 10-0 lead in the middle innings. But the KC team pulled off the impossible, staging an epic comeback victory that ended with a second straight walkoff hit in the bottom of the 9th inning to cap off an improbable 12-11 victory. After winning a game like that, the team was brimming with confidence in Game 6, and Staff Ace Reynaldo Martinez was brilliant in that game, going 8 innings and allowing just one run in a 4-1 Championship winning game.
And so, even without North in the lineup, the KC Tornadoes navigated the minefield of the ABL Playoffs for a second straight year and emerge as Champions.
And the future is bright for this team. While the farm system is not highly regarded right now, the team is still blessed with the virtue of youth. Only three people on the playoff roster were over 30 years old this season, and one of those was Jesus Cruz, who still seems to be in his prime at age 31. The team is young, and the financial position of the franchise is sensational. And after posting back-to-back Championships, the team believes it might just have the Perfect Storm brewing on the horizon, as they look to start another Championship quest in 2019.
