Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 407 - 55: Return to Shengong

"Huh? Manager, do you mean... for tomorrow’s game against the Yakult Swallows, you’re planning to start me?"

After catching up with his friends from high school, when Lin Guanglai returned to the hotel where the SoftBank team was staying in Tokyo, Akiyama Koji came to his room to inform him about the starting arrangement for the next day. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

This truly caught Lin Guanglai by surprise, leaving him unprepared:

The SoftBank team’s expedition to Tokyo involves playing 4 games, 2 at Shengong Stadium against the Yakult Swallows and 2 at Tokyo Dome against the Yomiuri Giants. It’s only been 5 days since Lin Guanglai last pitched at Koshien, and according to the regular "6 days between games" routine and the dual swordsmanship training schedule, Lin Guanglai was supposed to rest tomorrow and then start pitching in the second game against the Swallows the day after tomorrow.

Although it seems like there’s only a day’s difference in rest, which doesn’t appear significant, for a professional pitcher, every starting pitcher responsible for rotation has their own rhythm for adjusting their condition. Starting arbitrarily can easily disrupt a player’s state, thus affecting their performance in the game.

As Akiyama Koji spoke these words, his face showed some awkwardness. He knew that such an arrangement was somewhat unfair to Lin Guanglai, and in some respects, it dropped the entire team’s responsibility onto this one starting pitcher. But he also had no choice:

The sudden season-ending injury of Oonari Kenji exacerbated the already insufficient and unstable SoftBank starting rotation, leaving a huge gap that was difficult to fill in a short time.

The game against the Yakult Swallows is very important. The opponents are currently at the bottom of the Central League standings and in poor condition. Except for the Dutch batter Wladimir Balentien, the rest of the team is either too old or too young, with no outstanding players among the mid-generation local players. For the SoftBank team, which aims to achieve something during the interleague, the games against Yakult cannot be lost, and winning at least 3 is the bare minimum.

If not for the plans falling behind changes, Akiyama Koji would definitely not make such a scheduling adjustment, disrupting the pitcher’s adjustment rhythm recklessly. But after Oonari Kenji’s season-ending injury, the only starting pitchers left who can maintain stability and win games are Lin Guanglai and Shetsu Shou. The latter just pitched in the second game against Hanshin, and with even fewer rest days than Lin Guanglai, obviously can’t start again.

After calculating the situation, it seems only Lin Guanglai can shoulder the responsibility of starting tomorrow. Although he’s young and only just joined the team this year, based on his demonstrated strength and game condition, Lin Guanglai is now undoubtedly one of the team’s aces.

After patiently listening to Manager Akiyama’s explanation and understanding the team’s current situation, Lin Guanglai thought for a while and finally nodded, taking on the responsibility.

"Then manager, since I have to start tomorrow, I need to intensify training this afternoon..."

"Of course, the coaching staff has already made arrangements for you. We’ll strive to bring you back to your optimal competitive state before tomorrow’s game against Yakult!"

-----------------

"Tetsuro, long time no see!"

Standing in the player tunnel of Shengong Stadium, Lin Guanglai, carrying his equipment, was preparing to head to the bullpen for practice when he coincidentally met Yamada Tetsuro, returning to the locker room after the home team’s pre-game warm-ups, also an old friend of his.

Since being the first pick by the Yakult Swallows in 2010, Yamada Tetsuro has steadily improved each year: starting from the second team, to getting called up to the first team for a few games in previous seasons, and finally this season, seizing the opportunity due to the poor batting of Yakult’s main second baseman Tanaka Hiroyasu, securing a regular spot in the first team.

"Guanglai, long time no see — you’ve become quite a sensation in pro baseball recently!" Equally excited to see Lin Guanglai again after a long time, Yamada Tetsuro was quite thrilled — the last time they met, Lin Guanglai had yet to become a pro baseball player, and Yamada Tetsuro was still toiling between the first and second teams as a young player.

Now, these two friends of similar age have both established themselves in their respective professional teams, and they’re about to face off today, which stirred excitement in Yamada Tetsuro.

"Guanglai, you’d better be careful today, I won’t hold back against you!"

"You too, Tetsuro, I won’t let you score a hit!"

"See you on the field!"

"See you on the field!"

After chatting briefly with Yamada Tetsuro, Lin Guanglai headed to the bullpen, where, under Guo Taiyuan’s arrangement, he adjusted his pre-game condition.

"Swoosh—"

"Pa!"

With the swift arm swing producing a gust of wind, the baseball flew out strongly from Lin Guanglai’s hand, landing firmly in the glove of the squatting catcher at the baseline.

Watching the data transmitted from the equipment in his hand, Guo Taiyuan nodded in satisfaction and continued giving orders:

"Fastballs look good — next, try throwing some breaking balls!"

Upon hearing the coach’s request, Lin Guanglai nodded, adjusted his grip on the baseball, ensuring each finger was in its proper place, and quickly threw the ball.

This time, however, Guo Taiyuan’s expression was not as pleased as before: in his view, Lin Guanglai’s breaking balls today seemed a bit off — although the standard was still there, the accuracy and variation breadth upon entering the zone were slightly lacking compared to regular rotation.

"Indeed, it still has some degree of impact..."

Standing behind the pitching Lin Guanglai, Guo Taiyuan appeared thoughtful. After the training ended, he returned to where the coaching staff gathered and directly expressed his thoughts to Akiyama Koji:

"Manager, for the match against the Yakult Swallows, I think we need to make contingency plans..."

"What’s wrong, isn’t his pitching condition good?" Hearing Guo Taiyuan’s evaluation, Akiyama Koji’s heart sank — it’s important to know that the starting roster has already been submitted, and replacements can’t be made unless a player gets injured before the game.

"It’s not that, to be honest, his condition, while slightly declining due to incomplete rest cycles, is still above average —"

"I’m a bit worried because although the Swallows are at the bottom of the standings, that Balentien from their team is in explosive form, and I’m afraid..."

At this point, Guo Taiyuan sighed: "I hope I’m overthinking it..."