This is the home page for one of the most successful travel baseball programs in Illinois history. Unlike many programs out there, we are not a business. Longshots Baseball is driven by a group of great baseball people who love the game and love helping kids.

We have had five 18U teams…The West Suburban Longshots (1995-2000, 13U-18U) and now, Longshots Baseball (High school graduating classes of 2008-2011)…

All have been State & Regional Champs… multiple times... 

one team was an AAU National Champ…

and the 2008 and 2010 teams earned Connie Mack World Series berths in our first 2 tries!! 

And still another was the only team to win back to back (yr over yr) Top Collegiate Championships!!

Our '00 team had 12 D1 players along with 6 draft picks.
Our '08 team had 18 players sign with colleges and two players drafted by the Chicago White Sox.
Our ’09 team had 17 players sign with colleges and two more players drafted.
Our ’10 class had 28 players sign with colleges (including 16 D-1), reached the Connie Mack World Series, and two more players drafted.
Our '11 team finished with 27 players making college commitments (including 13 D-1) and had four players drafted out of high school.

Our older teams have served as the foundation and model for building the Downers Grove Travel Baseball program (Longshots Baseball), now widely recognized as one of the premier youth travel programs in Illinois (ages 9U - 18U). Known for its commitment to training and skill development, more information can be found on www.dgyb.org (click on Travel).

A few years back, we created the Longshots Baseball Senior Division, which consists of Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior HS class groups.  The Senior Division better structures and prepares our players for opportunities to play in college and beyond.

While our program is recognized as successful with our Local, State and National titles, the true measure of our success lies in our contribution to the individual development of each of our players. From off-season workouts to true skill development programs, you will see our players continue to elevate their abilities and knowledge of the game each year.

Our ability to expose our players to great college programs fitting their wants and needs speaks for itself. College coaches and pro scouts understand what being a "Longshots player" stands for. They understand the caliber of talent and character our players bring to their programs.

This past summer, College recruiters were at EVERY game our junior team played. Many of our sophomore games also saw college recruiters, as did most of our senior games during the fall season. Most of the top baseball programs (D1 - D3) in Midwest spend time assessing and recruiting our players. 

ALL our players graduate the program better off than they came in from development, experience, and exposure aspects. That's what our players tell us... that's what colleges and pro scouts tell us... that's what kids from other teams tell us! Top players from other top programs are some of our best references.

We work for ALL our players. We're not just about D1 kids and draft picks (though obviously, we have those). We're really about helping great kids who are serious about baseball get to their "next level," wherever that is. There is no star-system in our program. That's what really makes us different.

We tend to have almost all our players stay year-over-year. We are not about adding lots of players to our roster each year to win championships (check it out, though ... we do OK there, too). Some programs do that; we don't.  We commit to the players who commit to us!

Only 30-34 players in an age group or team get to wear a Longshots jersey. And they tend to have one from the last couple years, as well.

We start as community-based, rostering the top players from our DG Travel program and expand selectively. We are not a program that annually goes recruiting for “all-stars.” Rather, we commit to develop our own and add players who are committed to play in a hard-working, respect-the-game, team-first approach.  We look for kids who come to play seriously every day. This fosters an environment of teamwork and puts players in a position to commit to each other and push each other from a development perspective.  Our players’ success speaks for itself.

Late each summer, our alumni (draft picks, college players and grads) come back to play our HS grad team. Besides enjoying the opportunity to play together again, they've helped our HS teams, and the rest of our program, understand the true value of the Longshots Baseball experience. It has been amazing to see the similarities in the groups, as well as the common career outcomes. We believe we have this figured out.

Now some of our alumni instruct and coach in our program!

Check us out… quality players and quality people, always working to improve... FOCUSED ON PLAYER DEVELOPMENT and PLAYER SUCCESS!

If you want to know about the experience or the value of the program... ask the players! Ask their parents! They get it!

We don't propose that we're better or worse than any of the TOP travel teams. They're all very good and serve an important purpose.

We're just a little different than most. We're a development program, NOT A BUSINESS.
Thanks for visiting... Good luck & have a great season!