After taste of success in 2025, Schaumburg Boomers seek championship in 2026

Heartbreak.

That’s one way to define the end of the Schaumburg Boomers’ 2025 season. After a 58-38 regular season and securing its most wins in a season since 2017, Schaumburg swept its way to the championship, where it faced three-time defending champions Québec Capitales.

Playing in the deciding Game 5 of the championship finals, the Boomers fell 6-5 after the Capitales scored in the ninth inning.

“Walking away, we did feel like we were good enough,” Boomers manager Jamie Bennett said. “It was just one of those games you lose by one run. We could have played a best-of-25 series, and I think that series might have been 25 games the way it went down. For the guys, it’s tough to walk away from one of those games, but hopefully, they reflect on it like I do and just realize how good of a season it was.”

Now Schaumburg sets its focus on the 2026 campaign, returning eight position players and 10 pitchers. Notably among them is reigning Frontier League Most Valuable Player Anthony Calarco. The Boomers open the season Friday night at Lake Erie with a three-game series. The home opener is Monday night at Wintrust Field against Trois-Rivieres Aigles.

Entering the new season, the Boomers hope to hoist a trophy this year.

“The expectations are high,” Bennett said. “We got so many guys coming back that — it sounds cliché, but for them, it feels like they have some unfinished business. I had a great season last year, a good run, just missed getting another ring, but they’re hungry for it. It’s a really good group of guys that are really close to each other, and I know they were excited to get back together for another year together.”

Calarco, a Wilmette native and New Trier High School graduate, returns to Schaumburg for his third season with the Boomers. En route to his award-winning season last year, the infielder batted .350 with 147 hits, 132 RBI, 89 runs and 25 home runs across 106 games.

Echoing Bennett’s sentiment, he feels that this year’s squad has the exact pieces it needs to find its way back to the top of the league.

“We know that we have the right group to do it,” Calarco said. “We feel very confident that we’re going to have a really good team, and we’re going to go as far as we can again.”

Last season, Schaumburg possessed one of the league’s most potent offenses, but this year Bennett, the Boomers’ manager since the 2012 season, feels that the team has bolstered its pitching, which could put the unit over the top.

“We got a lot of offense back and added some new pieces there, which we feel good about,” Bennett said. “We were strong offensively, set a lot of records for ourselves as a franchise, but I think we’re better on the mound to start the season, which is huge for us. Last year, I felt like we were chasing a lot, and the offense had to do a lot of work.”

Toward the end of last season, the Boomers added Alex Calarco, Anthony Calarco’s younger brother, to the roster. He is the only catcher returning from last year’s team.

Bennett said the team’s experience in a deep postseason run has bolstered his confidence in the group to get it done this year. Knowing how to win — and being frustrated by losing — is key, he said.

Beyond that, Schaumburg’s clubhouse has a culture that represents brotherhood. Alex Calarco said that the team’s passion for one another will be key to it winning its first championship since the 2021 season.

“We have that cohesiveness to run through a brick wall for each other,” Alex Calarco said. “We really enjoy playing the game together, so it makes it a lot more fun. It’s a lot easier to win when you like who you’re doing your job with.”