Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 536 - 117: The Morning After Becoming Champions (Part 2)

A burst of laughter came from beside him, and the office worker who had finished eating also smiled knowingly; after placing the newspaper into his briefcase, he walked out of the convenience store and joined the stream of morning commuters.

This is a convenience store commonly seen in the streets and alleys of Fukuoka. The story unfolding here this morning is happening in every corner of this city.

Some come habitually to buy newspapers every day for decades; some come to pursue a girl they like, while others come simply to collect and eternally remember this day belonging to the SoftBank Team.

The names of Lin Guanglai, Akiyama Koji, Lee Dae-ho, and others keep appearing in every corner of the city and even in the surrounding areas: Lin Guanglai’s first home run, the iconic celebration move, Akiyama Koji’s tears, Lee Dae-ho’s key hit that led, and the entire SoftBank Team holding the championship flag and cheering...

The Kyushu Region, with a population exceeding 13 million, once again shares the same fate and breath because of baseball.

And while the fans in the Kyushu Region are jubilant over the team’s victory, the heroes who personally participated are not in the best state at this moment.

"Ha—" Sitting on the plane to Saitama Prefecture, Lin Guanglai yawned and complained to Yanagida Yuuki beside him, "Last night we just finished a game in Osaka, and today we have to rush to Saitama to play a three-game series with the Seibu Lions—how exactly do they schedule the professional league games..."

"Oh, I guess they didn’t expect us to secure the championship half a month in advance when they first planned it, right? Originally, this arrangement was normal, but now it directly turns into a digest series— Guanglai, just roll with it, anyway, we don’t have to play in the upcoming games, at worst consider it a trip to Saitama..." Yanagida Yuuki waved his hand and consoled him.

Hearing this, Lin Guanglai glared at him, "Brother Yuuki, it’s easy for you to say, after all, you seniors will probably just drink heavily with the supervisors when you get there—don’t forget, the few times before when you drank yourself unconscious, it was me who dragged you back to the room..."

Feeling the resentment from Lin Guanglai, Yanagida Yuuki awkwardly laughed a few times and hurriedly changed the topic: "Speaking of which, yesterday’s game was somewhat regrettable..."

Though the way he changed the subject seemed a bit forced, Lin Guanglai didn’t continue to dwell on it, instead agreeing: "We won the game and took the championship, isn’t that the best result—what was there to regret?"

Yanagida Yuuki smiled, "Winning the championship feels awesome, but it still lacked something, winning at someone else’s home field; if yesterday’s game was held at the Yahoo Dome, the scene would have been far grander—winning the championship in a direct match against Orix at our home field would be my dream victory scene."

As he said these words, Yanagida Yuuki’s eyes lit up: selected by the SoftBank Team as a rookie in 2010, during the 2011 season when SoftBank last officially won the championship, though he was still a young player adapting to the intensity of professional baseball in the second team, he had experienced that championship battle from the stands.

The adrenaline rush, the heart-pounding passion, the pose of standing in the center of the field with arms open to thousands of cheers, truly captivated him back then.

Hearing this, Lin Guanglai also laughed. However, his thoughts differed from his friend’s: "Come on, Brother Yuuki, if you calculate it, given our lead before this series started, having to wait until the last game of the season for a head-to-head would mean we would have to lose almost all the subsequent games to get to that point?"

"Reaching a deciding game at that point or leaving fate in others’ hands is too nerve-wracking, right?" Lin Guanglai smirked, just thinking about that scenario made him uncomfortable, "Could we really pull off a walk-off hit in front of over 40,000 home fans in the last game of the season? Just imagining it is too much for the heart." (Note 1)

Yanagida Yuuki lifted his head and thought about that scene, shivering suddenly, "Indeed, although winning a championship that way is exhilarating, the demands on the heart are too high, thinking about it, the current situation is just fine—at least, everyone can be more relaxed before the climax series begins."

While the two were chatting, the plane started descending through the clouds and gradually landed at Narita Airport.

Thanks to their opponents’ losing streak and the team’s outstanding performance in the series against Orix, the SoftBank Team’s magic number has cleared, and all the upcoming official games have turned into ’digest series’ that do not affect the standings.

Considering the need to prepare for the climax series and potentially Japan’s Number One in upcoming games, Akiyama Koji and the coaching staff decided on a full team rotation for the series against the Seibu Lions:

Core players and ace pitchers, including Lin Guanglai, Nakagawa Seiichi, Matsuda Naohiro, and Lee Dae-ho, will not be playing in this series; meanwhile, young players from the first and even second teams are given precious starting opportunities—a great chance for them to showcase themselves.

Compared to the tense excitement during the championship race, the days after winning the title seem remarkably relaxed and satisfying:

The training field is enveloped in an almost dreamlike easy-going atmosphere. Those sprints and fielding exercises that usually cause muscle soreness are now accompanied by players’ laughter, and every face bears an irrepressible smile.

Even the usually strict coaches have smiles at the corners of their mouths, and even during batting practice, where flamboyant swings that would typically earn a harsh scolding, were met with just small admonitions and good-natured laughter.

When official matches began, most of the main players wore clean clothes, leisurely seated in the deepest part of the dugout. Veteran players especially enjoyed watching the young players run back and forth, occasionally stepping in to offer guidance.

The second-team players who finally get the chance to play in the first team appear quite excited: even garbage time appearances are precious for them—if they can perform well in these games, they might earn favoritism from the coaching staff, paving the way to officially join the first team in the next season.

Seizing this opportunity, introduced by Chika Huangda, Lin Guanglai met a catcher named Kai Tatsuya currently playing for the SoftBank second team. He entered the league the same year as Chika Huangda as a development player, and they are close friends.

Lin Guanglai also partnered with him in pitching and catching during training. Although Kai Tatsuya is only 1.7 meters tall, his strong arm and understanding of the pitcher’s mentality left a deep impression on Lin Guanglai.

Were it not for the current three catchers in the SoftBank first team — the in-their-prime Takeshima Shinya, the experienced veteran Hosokawa Kei, and the top draft pick Yamashita Fumio — Lin Guanglai believes that based on the level Kai Tatsuya has shown, he would be fully capable of being promoted to the first team.

Apart from the young players eager to break into the first team, none of the SoftBank first-team players are focused on the series against the Seibu Lions anymore—their sights are already set on next week’s home game, where the truly grand and official award ceremony will be held after the Yahoo Dome game. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

The players can’t wait!

(Note 1: The method mentioned here actually refers to the real 2014 SoftBank’s path to victory: holding a considerable lead in early September, starting to lose streaks mid-month until tied, and finally, the last home game against Orix, winning it locks in the championship, losing would mean handing it over—in the end, relying on Matsuda Naohiro’s walk-off hit, they beat Orix at home to win the championship.)