2026 Bandits Taylor McQuillin

The second season of Athletes Unlimited Softball League starts today. The Chicago Bandits play in Utah.

The AUSL is the newest league of Athletes Unlimited, which started with a fantasy points-based softball league. The actual details are a bit confusing, but are better explained on auprosports.com. That AU softball is still around, but is now called the Championship Cup which is played after the AUSL season. Confused yet?

Anyway, AUSL has six teams, with the Chicago Bandits among them. This isn't the former Bandits, but is more of a nod to them. Either way, it is good to have real softball and a hometown team back!

One of the Bandits this year is pitcher Taylor McQuillin. My interview with McQuillin is at Talking Travel with Taylor McQuillin. In addition to being a pro player and an Olympian, McQuillin is an inspiration for another reason. The star pitcher is blind in one eye. It's hard enough living with half your vision, but playing softball at such an elite level is amazing. 

She had to learn depth perception by experience. She has to work more closely with her fielders than most pitchers. She talks freely aboutthis in our interview. Hopefully, those folks with vision impairments will take some inspiration or hope from McQuillin.

On a personal level, McQuillin was as nice as could be when I finally met her. We chatted for a few minutes after I thanked her for the interview.  I am very happy McQuillin will be pitching for the Bandits.

For more info on this league, go to the ausl.com. Look here for my recurring coverage.

Taylor McQuillin and me in Rosemont, IL-August 2024.

Talking Travel with Taylor McQuillin

My latest guest on Talking Travel on Global Traveler is Olympian Taylor McQuillin. As winter invades Chicago and GT partners with the Olympics, it is a great time to talk softball, the Olympics and travel and Taylor is the perfect interview guest.

We start with Taylor discussing what adding "Olympian" to her title means to her. That's an amazing accomplishment and one she will always carry with her. She can forever add "OLY" to her name, title, signature and resume.

We moved onto a serious topic. Suffering from Duane Syndrome, a condition that left her blind in her left eye, Taylor overcame the problem to excel on the mound. Ever positive, she even explained how it helped her become an even better player through more communication and understanding the roles of other teammates.

Of course, we had to discuss her travels. She talked about growing from a rookie to a young veteran in Japan. While she eschews the veteran label, she had enough experience there to tell fun tales and to guide younger players. She is comfortable enough to simply go exploring in Japan, a decision which brought her to many interesting new places.

 I have had the pleasure of watching Taylor play in Athletes Unlimited. She's an ace on the mound and an incredible person off the field. I loved this interview, because it revealed the many sides of Taylor.

The full recap is on GT at Talking Travel with Taylor McQuillin. All of the Talking Travel interviews are on the GT YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe to the channel (it's free) for all of the travel content. Also, go to TayBeeSoftball.com for more info on her camps, clinics and instruction.