Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 367 - 17: The World Approaches

Just as Lin Guanglai’s pitcher development plan was proceeding according to schedule, the World Baseball Classic was drawing nearer—an international baseball tournament organized jointly by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, the American Major League Baseball, and its players’ union, now enjoying increasingly important status.

Especially since the other two "major competitions," the Olympics and the Baseball World Cup, were discontinued in 2008 and 2011 respectively, the World Baseball Classic is currently the only certified official world championship, and only the champion of the Classic can be truly called the "world champion."

The WBC competition is primarily divided into three stages:

The top 12 teams from the previous Classic (2009) and 4 teams that passed the selection will be invited to participate in the first stage of the competition, where 16 teams will be grouped into four pools and will compete at four different venues.

Japan’s Fukuoka, Taiwan’s Taichung, Puerto Rico’s San Juan, Phoenix and Scottsdale in the United States will host the first stage matches.

After each group of 4 teams plays against each other, the top two ranked teams will qualify and proceed to the second stage in Tokyo, Japan and Miami, United States.

The second stage adopts a double-elimination system; the qualifying teams from Pool A and Pool B, and Pool C and Pool D will be automatically divided into two new groups, with the top two from each group advancing to the championship round.

This year’s championship round will take place at the San Francisco Giants’ home stadium, using the traditional single-elimination format. The team that earns the top seed during the second stage will face the second seed from another group to determine the ultimate champion.

In this edition of the Classic, the Japan Team is undoubtedly the most watched team—they have completed consecutive victories in the previous two tournaments, and are currently the only team to have ever won the Classic championship.

This time, the Japan Team has showcased a lineup mainly composed of star players from various Nippon Professional Baseball teams, although the lineup remains luxurious, numerous players who are active in the United States, including Yu Darvish, Hiroki Kuroda, and Ichiro Suzuki, are unable to participate because their clubs refused to let them go. Compared to the complete lineups of the previous two editions, the Japan Team’s strength on paper has slightly declined.

Meanwhile, other countries have assembled a significant number of Major League star players to put an end to Japan’s domination:

On Team USA’s side, "Captain America" David Wright and Miami Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton lead the charge as two super hitters, combining for 87 home runs last season, their offensive firepower is absolutely top-notch;

The Dominican Republic has the famous Robinson Canó and José Reyes as their second base-shortstop combo, both are stars who have won Silver Slugger and Gold Glove awards, showcasing excellence in both offense and defense;

Puerto Rico also has a formidable player like Yadier Molina, a resolute catcher, making them a team not to be underestimated.

Missing quite a few strong players, at least from the warm-up matches, this Japan Team’s state is not particularly good, even described as poor:

Previously, when the Japan National Team held an intensive training camp in Miyazaki, Manager Akiyama specifically organized SoftBank’s players to watch the National Team go through an intense trial match against Hiroshima Carp’s first squad.

One of the team’s ace pitchers, Tanaka Masahiro, who dominated Nippon Professional Baseball with an ERA under 2 for two consecutive seasons as Rakuten Golden Eagles’ ace, seemed to suddenly forget how to pitch on the international stage, failing to complete even half an inning before being pulled; the batters appeared to be sleepwalking, completely shut down by Hiroshima Carp’s pitching lineup.

In front of nearly 30,000 spectators on-site, this Samurai team composed of Japan’s strongest domestic forces shockingly lost 0-7 to Hiroshima Carp, causing disbelief and casting a shadow over their journey in this Classic.

However, neither SoftBank nor Lin Guanglai had much time to concern themselves with the Japan National Team’s fate: soon after finishing the warm-up game against the Seibu Lions in late February, SoftBank was visited by two special guests:

In preparation, Brazil Team and Cuba Team, placed in the same Pool A with the Japan Team in this Classic, respectively booked a warm-up game against SoftBank, aiming to adapt early to the intensity of Asian baseball contrasting the American style.

In both matches against Brazil and Cuba, Lin Guanglai recorded appearances:

Brazil Team’s strength is relatively average, with main players almost all being of the American minor league level—SoftBank played with ease against them, smoothly in both offense and defense.

In this game, Lin Guanglai was brought on as a relief pitcher during the middle innings, managed 2 strikeouts, conceded 1 hit, and allowed no runs, performing outstandingly—his sharp fastball speed even startled those Brazilian players accustomed to playing in the United States, leaving them with little means.

However, facing Cuba Team the next day, Lin Guanglai experienced for the first time the sensation of being overwhelmed by the opposition’s hitters in the final moments, under Manager Akiyama’s management.

As a small nation in the Central-North American region, Cuba is also a traditional baseball powerhouse—during the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic, the Japan Team’s final opponent was precisely them.

This Cuba Team inherits the traditional style of American baseball: unlike the Japanese players who tend to rely on skill due to relatively average physical aptitude, the Cuban batters are mainly power hitters with remarkable physical stature.

Facing these power-style hitters from the pitcher’s mound evokes a completely different mindset compared to facing skill-based hitters; not to mention after accepting Guo Taiyuan’s suggestion, Lin Guanglai has been adjusting his pitching posture recently, under which his control quality has decreased notably, and it’s unlikely to return to previous levels in the short term—such contrast naturally leads to being consecutively hit for base hits by the opponent.

Honestly, Lin Guanglai’s pitching quality remains decent, apart from a slight increase in the number of walks, his suppression power persists; many balls hit out by the Cuban players weren’t due to mistakes or poor throws on his part, rather it was their sheer force that carried the ball out—it’s just that, in such scenarios, a pitcher can only express helplessness.

After completing warm-up matches against these two teams, SoftBank continued bustling exchanges with other teams, each player received varying degrees of performance opportunities, and Lin Guanglai was the one with the most chances among them;

In the process, Manager Akiyama began to form a new lineup in his mind.

With time marching towards the end of March, baseball fans eagerly anticipate the opening of the 2013 season curtain.