Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 521 - 110: Fierce Battle Against the Central League

From the sheer momentum of the support, it’s really hard to imagine that this is a team that has only won Japan’s Number One title once in its many years of establishment.

Even when Lin Guanglai stepped out of the player area to prepare for batting, he could hear some jeers mixed in with the deafening cheers of the home fans.

To this, Lin Guanglai felt he also needed to respond a little—

"In this game, the visiting Hanshin Tigers are in fantastic form, and they seized the opportunity when the SoftBank team’s pitcher couldn’t quickly get into the groove, taking a 2-point advantage in the first half of the inning."

"But now, with two outs and bases loaded—facing Lin Guanglai, who hit a home run off his pitch last season, how should Mason Jie choose?"

"Fastball! Inside corner!! Mason Jie chooses a head-on duel with Lin Guanglai; what does he say about this pitch?!"

"Lin Guanglai initiates the swing! Hits it!! This ball is flying high and fast!!"

"Ah ah ah ah ah—it’s out, it’s out, this ball flew out! Audience, can you hear the sounds at the scene? Yahoo Dome now feels like a volcano erupting!"

"Again a home run facing the Hanshin Tigers, this is already the third home run he’s surrendered to them in two seasons—Lin Guanglai, he’s truly an indisputable Hanshin’s nemesis!"

"Thinking of the Hanshin Tigers likely reaching the Japan Series this year, if such a duel were to occur in October, I can’t believe what Koshien would be like at that time!"

With Lin Guanglai’s grand slam igniting the whole stadium, the final score of the game was also frozen at 4:2.

Obviously, after this game, the Hanshin Tigers fans’ perception of Lin Guanglai worsened greatly, and some overly fervent fans wished they could devour his flesh.

About ten to twenty days later, SoftBank will head to Nishinomiya City for a series against the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien—at that time, the Hanshin fans at home should "earnestly" welcome Lin Guanglai.

After concluding the home games with a record of 3 wins and 1 loss in two series, SoftBank’s next opponent is the old powerhouse Chunichi Dragons from the Central League:

Despite having hovered on the edge of peak battles for the past two years and seemingly set to continue a decline, in terms of historical heritage and fan enthusiasm, the Chunichi Dragons are on par with the Giant Team among the six teams in the Central League.

Located at Nagoya Dome in Aichi Prefecture, the Chunichi Dragons are the only professional baseball team in the entire central region of Japan, a natural advantage that attracts a vast fanbase from the area; conversely, the Nagoya Metropolitan Area’s strong economy and rich baseball atmosphere also support this team’s prominence.

As one of the founding teams of Nippon Professional Baseball, renowned for tough defense and top-tier pitching, they are also famous as the "King without a Crown."

In 1954, under the leadership of the legendary pitcher Shigeru Sugiyama, known as the "Flame Man," the Chunichi Dragons defeated the then high-flying Yomiuri Giants led by legendary star Tetsuharu Kawakami in the Japan Series that year, claiming their first Japan’s Number One championship in team history. (Note: At the time, Nippon Professional Baseball hadn’t yet split into two leagues.)

This David versus Goliath epic victory greatly inspired the people of Nagoya and the entire central region, further solidifying the team’s fan foundation.

Little did anyone expect, since then, although the Chunichi Dragons frequently won league titles, they have never claimed another Japan’s Number One title; not until the 21st century, when the former superstar Rokkai Hoshimura returned to the team as manager, did Nagoya and the Chunichi Dragons enter their golden era again.

With Rokkai Hoshimura’s emphasis on data, focus on defense and pitching, pragmatic playing style, and strong-arm military methods, the team won the Central League titles in 2004, 2006, 2010, and 2011, and in 2007 defeated the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, bringing the Japan’s Number One victory flag back to the central region after 53 years.

Even with Rokkai Hoshimura retiring, the team’s main members are either old or young, but only when facing the Chunichi Dragons will you realize how tough their nagging "defensive baseball" can be.

With solid pitchers, impenetrable defense, detailed tactical execution, it is by this tactical style that the Chunichi Dragons can win the league title even when scoring fewer than allowing points on defense, showing the frustrating nature of this strategy.

In the first game at the Nagoya Dome, even though SoftBank opened the scoring early with a solo homer by Lee Dae-ho, the Chunichi Dragons seemed unfazed, continuing to play their steady defensive baseball.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, when Chunichi took advantage of fluctuations in the SoftBank pitcher’s stamina to even the score at 1:1, the game score remained locked from then on.

In the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth innings ... until the regulation 12 innings of formula match were completed, the powerful SoftBank lineup still couldn’t score even a single point against this opponent.

Especially when the game ended, seeing the mascot Doara (a koala), interacting with the home players and audience at the center field, as an opponent, that feeling was hard to bear.

Even in the second game the next day, it was merely by relying on the opponent’s mistakes plus their own offensive momentum, with Nakamura Akira and Lin Guanglai running home 2 points, barely securing a 2:1 victory.

Recalling the past two days of games, Lin Guanglai actually had this thought:

He’d rather be cursed by Hyogo’s Hanshin fans throughout a whole game at Koshien than contend with the turtle-like defensive team like Chunichi Dragons—the mental effort for these two games was even more than a week’s consecutive matches.

Leaving Nagoya, SoftBank players arrived in Yokohama, which is also their last stop for this week’s matches—contrasting Chunichi Dragons entirely, the Yokohama BayStars team located at Yokohama Stadium, like the open and inclusive port city Yokohama, advocates attacking style baseball throughout the entire organization.

In the late 90s, under the leadership of manager Hiroshi Kanto, this team, renowned for its all-out style and exceptional attack, defeated the then Japanese champions Seibu Lions, winning Japan’s Number One while also attracting a large number of fans with its exuberant assault baseball. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

However, as the championship aura faded, due to poor management and aging core players, the Yokohama BayStars also fell into a long-term slump, struggling mostly at the bottom of the league from the 2000s to early 2010s, even finishing last for five consecutive years from 2008 until the end of last season, barely surpassing Yakult, ending the awkward record.

As for why Yokohama BayStars advocates offensive baseball, anyone who played at Yokohama Stadium knows: for power hitters with exceptional batting skills, Yokohama Stadium is simply a hitter’s paradise.

The outfield wings measure 94 meters from home plate, and center measures 118 meters, turning high-fly balls that wouldn’t fly out in other stadiums into likely home runs at Yokohama Stadium; coupled with its seaside location, especially during summer with monsoon effects, many balls would be carried out by the wind, adding to the defensive challenge.

Strikeout-oriented pitchers may fare better, but those adept at inducing fly balls find it akin to entering a hell here, where balls that ordinarily guarantee outs inexplicably climb into the stands.

Fortunately, the current SoftBank team is least lacking in hitters with superior slugging skills.

As Lin Guanglai left Yokohama with 2 wins and 3 home runs, he couldn’t help but look forward to this time next year—

Playing in a hitter’s paradise feels awesome!