Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 417 - 63: All-Star

After finishing a busy day of work and just exiting the train station, Akane Kujo’s phone started ringing incessantly with the sounds "ding ding dong dong"—upon unlocking the screen and opening LINE, sure enough, there was a message sent to the fan club group.

[Everyone, the All-Star voting is nearing the deadline—let’s give it one last push, Lin is just a few votes away from a starting position, there’s definitely a chance for a comeback!]

Seeing this message that was pushed out less than a minute ago, Akane Kujo instantly became excited, quickly finding a safe spot by the roadside to stop, her fingers tapping away on the screen nonstop:

[Really, really? When I checked two days ago, there was still a big gap with Tanaka, what’s the situation now?]

[Just a few thousand votes behind Tanaka now, at this rate of growth, I think he’ll surpass him soon!]

Seeing the reply to her message, a long-lost radiant smile appeared on Akane Kujo’s somewhat tired face:

[Great! I can finally see Lin at my doorstep!]

As the veteran fan within the "Lin Guanglai Support Club," Akane Kujo’s sudden appearance instantly lit up the previously quiet chat group, with greeting chat bubbles popping up one after another, highlighting her popularity.

After all, compared to many new fans who started paying attention to Lin Guanglai after his rise to fame and entry into professional baseball, Akane Kujo could proudly claim that she was definitely among the first batch in all of Japan to follow Lin Guanglai—back then, Lin was still only a first-year high school student making his debut at Koshien, and not yet the superstars who would later become famous throughout Japan. (For details, see Volume 1, Chapter 63, "Araki Returns").

Kujo still remembers vividly when she first sent Lin Guanglai’s candid high school year one photo to the group for everyone to admire, the flying chat bubbles made her feel a strong sense of achievement.

Even though several years have passed since that summer in 2010, and Akane Kujo has transformed from a collagen-rich, youthful university girl to an overworked corporate worker, her love for Lin Guanglai has never changed, remaining constant.

Especially seeing the player she has continuously followed grow into the top player in Takayama and, upon entering professional baseball, seemingly ascend to stardom, she felt even better inside.

The only pity is that, due to working back home in Iwaki after graduation, without a professional baseball team in Iwaki, Kujo cannot often witness Lin Guanglai’s prowess in matches.

But this time, things are a bit different—the location for the third game of this year’s All-Star tournament is the Iwaki Green Stadium in her hometown, Fukushima Prefecture!

Such an arrangement is of great significance to Kujo as it means she has the chance to see Lin Guanglai’s performance on her doorstep—provided Lin makes it to the All-Star game.

Due to the All-Star game in Nihon Professional Baseball being more than one match, aside from fans voting for their favorite players, players also vote among themselves, and if the player and fan votes overlap, the excess spots are recommended by the head coach.

Based on Lin Guanglai’s performance so far this season, he definitely deserves an All-Star entry:

As a historic dual swordsmanship player, in his rookie season, he already boasts 7 wins and 10 home runs—the former ranking second in the Pacific League, only behind Tanaka Masahiro who remains undefeated with 9 wins; the latter is third overall, trailing only Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters’ Sho Nakata and Chiba Lotte’s Tadahito Iguchi, tied with Andrew Jones, Dai-Kang Yang, and Asamura Eitou.

Logically, such stats at any time should undoubtedly secure a starting position without dispute, but Lin’s situation is a bit unique:

As a dual swordsmanship player, Lin mainly competes this season as a pitcher and designated hitter, naturally participating in voting for these two positions;

However, coincidentally, whether it’s the pitcher or DH spot, there happens to be a highly popular senior ahead of him: Rakuten’s Tanaka Masahiro and Andrew Jones, one the strongest domestic pitcher, the "Divine Son," the other a former Major League superstar idolized by countless fans—compared to Lin Guanglai’s popularity accumulated during his Takayama days, it falls slightly short next to these two veterans.

Though with Lin’s current performance, even if he doesn’t get in through fan voting, it’s highly likely he’ll be recommended by the team manager to enter, and he himself has expressed in interviews that he’s "not particularly concerned about the votes"; but then again, the player’s indifference doesn’t mean the fans can stay so unenthusiastic.

At least from the perspective of Lin Guanglai Support Club’s fans, as the young generation leader, Lin deserves to receive treatment on par with his strength and popularity—after all, Ohtani Shohei who entered professional baseball the same time as Lin locks a fan-voted spot as a right fielder despite having stats far inferior to Lin’s, how could it be that Lin’s fans are less than Ohtani’s?