Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 523 - 111: Sprint, Sprint! (Part 2)

Even though the first two pitches that reached a good ball count were sidearm throws, on the third decisive pitch, Nakagawa Yuhei suddenly switched his pitching stance to a three-quarter style, and the pitch type from his signature slider changed to a fastball—using the sidearm slider to dull the batter’s senses, and when they got used to it, ambushing them with a fastball. This was his tried-and-true strategy.

The pitch speed was not frightening, but it carried a peculiar sideways movement, heading straight for Lin Guanglai’s inside corner!

"Now!"

Lin Guanglai’s pupils shrank suddenly, and his body began to react almost simultaneously as the ball was released: the long-standing strength erupted instantly from his feet, through the twisting waist and abdomen, and finally all infused into the bat in his hands.

With a swoosh, the bat drew a white arc in the air, and then precisely intersected with the baseball nearing home plate.

"Bang——!!"

After a noise that seemed to tear through the air, the baseball, as if infused with life, soared upwards towards the right outfield, its height was almost touching the dome of Yahoo Dome.

Facing such a towering and distant baseball, Rode’s outfielders made a feeble attempt to resist before stopping in despair, gazing blankly at the SoftBank fans in the stands, who jumped from their seats in excitement one by one.

The runner on third base easily returned to home base, and as the protagonist who hit the home run, Lin Guanglai stepped lightly and energetically, past first, second, third base; with each step he took, waves of cheers erupted from the crowd, and when he finally returned to home plate, he was greeted by teammates overwhelmed with joy.

On Eagle’s Vision, the numbers on the scoreboard flickered again, bringing the score to 5:3 in the bottom of the eighth inning.

While receiving punches and hugs from his teammates, Lin Guanglai cast his eyes towards the distant bullpen: there, having just completed his warm-up, Dennis Sarfate gave him a slight smile and a thumbs up; then patted his chest to indicate he will definitely shut the door successfully, not letting Lin Guanglai’s two-run blast go to waste.

Moments later...

"Dennis Sarfate! True to being the strongest guardian of the Pacific League and even all Japan, yet another strikeout streak, once again concluding this game!" The commentator from the local Fukuoka TV channel erupted in an excited shout, "And this victory means one thing—"

"For the SoftBank fans both on-site and in front of the television, now, we have once again returned to our rightful throne! This time, I believe the team will not relinquish this position again!"

After the game, watching their own players in the middle of the field expressing gratitude to the home fans, Manager Akiyama Koji exhaled a rare breath of relief:

As the coach, choosing to step on the brakes when the team is performing so well at the start of the season undoubtedly requires great courage, and over the past month and a half he has not escaped pressure and criticism from various quarters; 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Luckily, the club’s executives and the players within the team expressed strong support for him, and it was precisely through the cohesive efforts of the entire club that they managed to reclaim their position so quickly.

When all the first-team members returned to the locker room, Manager Akiyama, his repressed emotions finally released, waved a big hand, "You’ve all worked hard during this time—tonight I’ll treat you to drinks on my expense, we won’t leave until we’re drunk!"

"Oh Oh Oh—Manager is mighty, long live the Manager!!!" Upon hearing Manager Akiyama’s words, many veteran members of the team had their eyes brightened, quickly praising their manager’s wisdom and strength.

Although professional baseball does not strictly control players drinking excessively, any player with a bit of ambition and aspiration rarely chooses to get heavily intoxicated during a heated season;

The reason Manager Akiyama dared to reward the players in such a manner is primarily because today is the last official match before the All-Star game, with the season about two-thirds completed, it was a good time to let the players relieve some physical and mental fatigue.

Unfortunately for Lin Guanglai, who won’t reach the legal drinking age until next spring training, he once again became the one in charge of cleaning up once the revelry ended—would you like to know how it feels to drink oolong tea among a bunch of crazed drunkards? Lin Guanglai is probably the one who understands this feeling the best.

After the feast ended, one day later, Lin Guanglai followed Manager Akiyama, who became this year’s Pacific League All-Star head coach, along with the other six teammates selected, and went to this year’s first All-Star game held at Seibu Dome in Saitama Prefecture; as for the next day’s other game, it will be held at Hanshin Koshien Stadium.

Compared to first-time team selectees Yanagida Yuuki, Imamiya Kenta, and second-time selectee Lin Guanglai, the veteran players who have served in various countries’ professional baseball for many years and who have also been selected many times to the All-Star games seem less enthusiastic about this event.

After all, compared to official matches and climax matches that affect team rankings and directly affect future player income, the All-Star game feels like a mid-season carnival gathering everyone together, apart from getting to meet old friends from other teams, there’s not much else to it.

Furthermore, Nippon Professional Baseball does not decide the home field advantage for Japan’s Number One series based on the outcome of the All-Star game like the Major League, making it even less thrilling by comparison.

To avoid injuries, pitchers won’t pitch with full effort, and top batters won’t exert maximum effort to attack and defend, leading to inadequate competitive tension in the game.

Moreover, most baseball fans usually care more about their own team’s performance and rivals, and there is hardly anyone who really cares about the "Central League vs Pacific League" virtual showdown.

Other than the opportunity for close interaction with players during the All-Star week, the attraction of the event seems indeed less compelling—it’s heard that both the Major League and Nippon Professional Baseball are planning reforms in the All-Star format and presentation, who knows what it will look like in the future.

In the first match at Seibu Dome, the Central League’s pitchers and batters visibly reached playing condition faster, establishing a huge advantage early in the game, eventually completing a shutout with a score of 7:0.

After moving to Koshien, it seems the large-scale defeat in the first game stimulated the Pacific League stars, as under the enthusiastic cheers from the Hanshin fans, stars from all 12 ball clubs from both leagues displayed their true skills, and the match concluded with Pacific League 12:6 over Central League, coming to a satisfactory end.

When SoftBank’s players returned from the All-Star week’s break, after some adjustments, everyone’s condition remained extremely well-maintained—a fact evident in their subsequent performances.

In the first series after returning from the All-Star, the SoftBank team finished off a three-game sweep against direct competitor Orix at Kyocera Dome as visitors, further widening the leading advantage to 3.5 games.

With the schedule entering August, the SoftBank team, in excellent shape, became unstoppable, starting from the match against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters on August 2 as visitors, not only did they clinched 10 consecutive wins at the beginning of the month but also achieved 18 victories throughout the month, leading powerfully within the Pacific League.

In the first game at the start of September, when the SoftBank team engaged in a 12-inning intense battle against Orix at Yahoo Dome, with Lin Guanglai hitting a walk-off single in the bottom of the 12th inning, bringing SoftBank’s record to 73 wins, 42 losses, 5 ties, the magic number that all Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks players have dreamed of finally, illuminated!