Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 391 - 40: Monthly MVP Award

"Alright, dear viewers, with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks defeating the home team, Chiba Lotte Marines, 4-1 at Chiba Marine Stadium, the first series of the Golden Week’s intense nine-game battle, and also the April 2013 professional baseball schedule, has come to a temporary end!"

"The SoftBank Team, which had a rough start to the season, performed reasonably well in April. They currently have a record of 13 wins and 14 losses, just one game under .500, allowing them to climb back to third place in the Pacific League standings. They are only half a game behind the current leaders, the Saitama Seibu Lions—incidentally, their opponents at the Yahoo Dome tomorrow are none other than the Seibu Team!"

"This promises to be an exceptionally exciting series. One could say the SoftBank fans at the Fukuoka home field are quite fortunate to witness such a critical showdown during the holiday!"

"As for the MVP player awards for March and April, the selection is underway, and the results are expected to be released soon, so please stay tuned!"

"Next, we’ll preview the game schedule..."

The announcer on the TV continued to chat endlessly. Meanwhile, the SoftBank players, who had just concluded an intense match, returned to the hotel, exhausted after post-game interviews. They quickly settled into their rooms for a deep sleep.

The players’ fatigue was justified:

The period from late April to early May includes multiple public holidays, usually resulting in an extended break known as Golden Week, lasting 8 to 9 days.

During this time, to boost professional baseball consumption, Nippon Professional Baseball schedules are packed tightly, leaving no gaps except for the designated travel days, forming the "Golden Week nine-game whirlwind." During this time, each team’s organization also arranges various fan appreciation events at their home games to thank the fans.

In this arrangement, the only ones to suffer are the coaching staff and players of the first-team:

Players must constantly travel between home and away games, striving for better results, while also having to sacrifice their rest periods to participate in fan appreciation events;

To cope with the Golden Week series, the managers and coaches have to continuously adjust the team’s starting rotation based on the circumstances, deciding whom to rotate and whom to rest, all while preparing for the interleague play in mid-May.

It’s precisely because of this that Lin Guanglai hadn’t pitched since his last appearance against the Orix Buffaloes on April 19. Manager Akiyama has scheduled him for a 10-day break—Lin Guanglai’s next appearance is set for May 3, in the final game of the three-game series against the Seibu Lions, and his family will also be attending the game live at the Yahoo Dome.

Lin Guanglai expressed considerable anticipation for this match.

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"Speaking of which, folks, the matches for March and April are over, so shouldn’t there be a conclusion on the Monthly MVP award by now?"

"If it’s not announced by the day after tomorrow before the games start, it won’t just be the players who will be annoyed; the journalists and fans alone would be hard to handle, right? I definitely don’t want to be pestered endlessly by those people then!"

"In the hitters’ category, Kuriyama Takashi from Seibu is a clear choice, right? A batting average of .366, 2 home runs, and 24 RBIs—these stats are just overwhelming compared to his competitors. While players like Lahai’er and Lee Dae-ho have more home runs, their batting averages are way lower, not to mention their RBI counts are far behind, posing no real threat."

"But as for the pitchers..."

The speaker just got started when they’d been interrupted by others around them.

"There’s no suspense on the pitchers’ side either. Who else but Lin Guanglai? You don’t seriously think anyone could threaten his position, do you?"

"In March and April, he pitched in four games, winning 3 and losing 1. In the only loss, he pitched 7 innings with 8Ks and allowed only 1 earned run—a quality start loss that was purely because his teammates didn’t deliver."

"In those 27 innings pitched, Lin Guanglai managed 39 strikeouts, allowed 3 runs, 2 earned runs with an ERA of just 0.67—what other player could be more deserving of this month’s MVP? If it went to someone else, this award would lose its credibility."

"But there were also other outstanding performers..." The first person said in rebuttal, though their tone seemed to lack confidence.

"Hah—you think I don’t know what you’re getting at. You just think since Seibu is in first place, their players have the chance to challenge Lin Guanglai. Alright, let’s settle this then."

"Not to mention that Seibu is only half a game ahead of the third-place SoftBank. The Seibu candidates include Makita Kazuhiko, Kikuchi Yuusei, and Shoto Togame." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Among these, Shoto Togame, though decent, with an ERA of 3.21 and 10 earned runs, falls way short of the other candidates, so he can be dismissed without any problem."

"Left with Kikuchi Yuusei, who in 4 starts has 2 wins and 1 loss, pitched 21 innings, with an ERA of 1.03 and 21Ks; Makita Kazuhiko, in 4 starts has 3 wins without a loss, pitching 31.2 innings, an ERA of 0.85, and 16 strikeouts—Kikuchi Yuusei falls short compared to Lin Guanglai in terms of innings pitched, ERA, and strikeouts, so he should be eliminated too."

"Now the only debate is between Lin Guanglai and Makita Kazuhiko as to who should be this month’s Best Player..."

"I believe it should be Lin Guanglai!"

"Although Makita Kazuhiko has a better win rate and more innings pitched, apart from indicating his ability to handle more innings, those differences don’t hold any real significance."

"Whether it’s the 0.67 ERA or the fact that he surpassed his main competitors by 23 strikeouts, these stats clearly show that Lin Guanglai is the best pitcher in the Pacific League this month, if not all of Nippon Professional Baseball—this is an indisputable fact!"

The speaker simply listed the stats, decisively ending any suspense of the award: Indeed, if a pitcher who averages 9.75 strikeouts per game over four games, conceding only 3 runs in 27 innings pitched, can’t win Player of the Month, then who possibly could? When did the Nippon Professional Baseball standards get this high?

Despite having already decided on the Best Pitcher of the Month, the committee couldn’t help but click their tongues:

How old is Lin Guanglai even? He’s just an 18-year-old rookie, merely two-and-a-half months into his career—and yet, he’s already surpassed so many big names and became the best among hundreds of professionals in his very first month.

A Heisei Monster, truly terrifying!