Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 540 - 119: Uprising? But I Refuse! (2)

Given that this year is the World Cup year, with the impact of the Brazil World Cup, the viewership ratings of Japanese professional baseball have dropped significantly in the golden months of July and August; even if they have rebounded somewhat now, the peak viewership ratings have still decreased to some extent compared to the same period in previous years — this trend has made the Japanese professional baseball officials quite troubled.

Now, such a great opportunity for promotion is right in front of them, how could the professional baseball officials miss it?

Right after the series between the Ham Fighters and Orix ended, the Japanese professional baseball officials sent a professional interview team the next day to the bases of the two teams in Fukuoka to conduct a special interview with the two young talents, which was uploaded to the professional baseball website homepage that day.

Facing enthusiastic reporters, Shohei Ohtani, who finally secured his position in the main team this season, appeared quite shy, always revealing his humility in his words.

"As for the upcoming match, I personally am approaching it with a challenger’s mindset." Shohei Ohtani scratched his head in front of the camera, "As the winning team of the Pacific League, there’s no need to say much about Softbank’s strength; this is a considerable challenge for me personally and for our team."

"However," Shohei Ohtani then shifted his tone, his eyes filled with blazing flames, "the series against Orix taught us one thing, that as long as we play at the level we should, the Ham Fighters are capable of beating any opponent — three years ago at Koshien, Hanamaki East, where I played, lost to Waseda Jitsugyo led by Lin; that defeat has been on my mind ever since."

"If possible, I hope to let Lin Guanglai experience the feeling of defeat with my teammates from the Ham Fighters!"

At the end of the interview, Shohei Ohtani couldn’t hold back and directed a harsh remark at the camera — he has been looking forward to this showdown for a long time, and presumably, Lin Guanglai has too.

Although in the world of professional baseball, he’s already a considerable distance behind Lin Guanglai, Shohei Ohtani is still full of confidence: he believes this series might just be his turning point to overtake Lin Guanglai.

As for Lin Guanglai on the other side, he was a "Heisei Monster" who had been making waves in high school baseball, known as the Demon King of his generation; even after entering professional baseball, he almost had no so-called adaptation period, quickly showcasing his prowess as the number one in high school baseball history, becoming the cornerstone of the Softbank team.

After a near-perfect rookie season, Lin Guanglai did not hit the sophomore slump like most rookies in his second year; instead, his stats even surpassed the previous year.

In terms of pitching, 20 wins and 2 losses, a win rate of 90%, an ERA of 1.80, and 255 strikeouts — not to mention the advanced metrics that require data model calculations, just these easily understandable stats give him an overwhelming lead over all pitchers in the 12 teams of both leagues, making him the 12th "Pitching Triple Crown" winner in Japanese baseball history, and has already ended all suspense for this season’s Eiji Sawamura Award in advance.

On the batting side, a .330 batting average ranks second in the Pacific League, and 28 home runs rank fourth, with these stats leading the Softbank team — considering these were achieved under the need to rest before and after pitching days, it’s enough to make him considered a top hitter by all pitchers in Japan.

Facing the camera, Lin Guanglai’s sharpness was fully revealed:

"I know that as the league champions, we are destined to be a focus of study for many people. But I believe in myself, my teammates, and my team — as the king of official matches, Softbank also has reasons not to lose."

"I will take on my responsibility, and with my teammates, use the league championship and Japan’s Number One pennant as the best farewell gift to Manager Akiyama; and any opponents blocking our path, we will defeat them without any doubt!"

"The Cinderella fairy tale of underdog victory is indeed beautiful, but I refuse — I will prove to Ohtani Shohei that both I and my team will be the better ones in this series!"

After a day of rest, the intense final battle reignited: having defeated Orix in the first round, the Ham Fighters arrived in Fukuoka from Osaka’s Yahoo Dome and will compete with the Softbank team here to qualify for the Japan Series.

As the winners of the official matches, Softbank has a one-game advantage in this series; this means they only need to win three matches to advance to the Japan Championship.

In the first game, Softbank is leaving nothing to chance, with Lin Guanglai as the starting pitcher, determined to secure his first victory in the climax series; for the lineup, the ten-million-dollar hitters are arranged in order.

In the pre-game studio, at West Japan Television, which leans towards Softbank, commentator, alongside star duo Ohtani Shuhei and Ichida Shinyu, Tadahito Iguchi, a former Daiei star now playing for Lotte, was invited as a guest, and they discussed Softbank’s potent lineup.

"In the short-term decisive climax series, the firepower of the lineup is crucial...," Tadahito Iguchi, in a suit, sat between the two commentators, sharing his experience as a player.

"And the Softbank lineup happens to be the strongest in the Pacific League — among the nine starters, excluding Lin Guanglai who’s pitching today, a total of 5 have a batting average over .300, with 3 of them ranking top 10 in home runs in the league. In terms of firepower, they are certainly not lacking."

"The only question is whether they can quickly find their batting form after not experiencing the intensity of professional matches for half a month — after all, the Ham Fighters just defeated Orix on the road two days ago, and their momentum is high right now."

"Otherwise, if the batters can’t open up and score, even a quadruple crown winner like Lin Guanglai would feel pressure — the climax is ultimately a contest of consecutive hits and long-distance hitting ability, whomever can exert more pressure on the opposing pitcher in the batter’s box will earn the ticket to the Japan Championship."

After completing the pre-game warm-up, Lin Guanglai jogged to the pitcher’s mound amidst the thunderous cheers of the home crowd; after testing a few pitches, the head umpire signaled the game to start.

The first batter for the Ham Fighters was Nishikawa Haruki, known for his quick feet and skilled hitting, and strong selection ability; considering his one-base sprint speed of 3.97 seconds and 50 meters speed of 5.8 seconds, allowing him on base is tantamount to conceding the scoring position to some extent.

Against such an opponent, Lin Guanglai was not planning to play around but to press with accurate and fierce fastballs directly and leverage the trajectory and speed differences to take him down.

The first pitch, a high inside fastball, speed 155km/h! Nishikawa’s reaction was amazingly swift, promptly responding; however, the heavy ball quality contained within the baseball’s violent rotation prevented him from making contact and only popped it foul.

The subsequent outside cutter had equally fast speed, although with slight lateral movement; Nishikawa swung again and once more fouled it off.

"The opponent’s urge to swing is strong..." Receiving the ball from Takeshima Shinya, Lin Guanglai rubbed the leather to better fit his grip, thinking continually based on the current situation, "Since this is the case, let’s not tangle and take him down directly!"

He signaled to Takeshima Shinya, who quickly positioned his glove where Lin Guanglai intended; even against the team he served for years, Takeshima Shinya wasn’t soft-hearted, coordinating with Lin Guanglai to deliver a knockout punch to Nishikawa Haruki.

With two strikes in hand, the next moment, that notorious splitter, studied and analyzed by major media and teams, was unleashed once more — following amazing speed and terrifying drop, a strikeout was secured!

Swift as lightning, a decisive blow.