Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 579 - 139: First Showdown of Geniuses (Part 2)

This is the current state of the "Major League Star Team": players who are famous, strong, and highly talented face these friendship matches which seem meaningless to them, naturally with a lackluster attitude, even Altuve, who usually has a more professional attitude, clearly holds back.

After all, for these stars who are at their peak or on the rise, getting injured in such small games might affect their future and financial prospects, causing losses of millions or even billions of US Dollars.

Yet, this carefree team managed to win 8-7 in a scrimmage against the Yomiuri Giants and Hanshin Tigers combined team a few days ago, with most players not taking it seriously—which is why Harper could say things like he did at the beginning.

Unlike the family business system of Nippon Professional Baseball teams, American baseball adheres to the primitive jungle law, where star players not only have a high status within the team but can even interfere with management actions sometimes. Even the head coach needs to maintain a good relationship with them, or risk losing his job.

This cultural background results in John Farrell, nominally the head coach of this Major League Star Team, having little actual power within the team, unable to interfere with any of these star players from various teams.

As for those with a proper attitude but mediocre strength, sorry, but Farrell is a championship coach, this should be the coach's matter, and he's indeed too lazy to bother with such players.

It is within this atmosphere that the first game of the Japan-US Baseball Exchange in 2014 arrived.

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At six in the evening, the largest stadium in Okinawa Prefecture, the Ow Mountain Wild Field in Naha City, was already filled with spectators from all over the world, squeezing the thirty thousand seats to full capacity.

Besides local fans wearing Japan Team or Nippon Professional Baseball team jerseys, there were also many foreign faces in the stands and VIP seats—these people were actually professional scouts from Major League teams, tasked with scouting players worth noting in this Japan Exchange Game; of course, most of their attention was focused on the MLB Star Team.

"Is that Albert Pujols? In reality, his physique seems even more intimidating than on TV!"

"Altuve is impressive too! To be a starting player in a Major League strong team with such a small build, that's really amazing!"

With some time left before the game starts, Lin Guanglai occasionally heard such voices around him while sitting on the bench—to be honest, he didn't quite like the atmosphere in the player's area right now.

In today's game, it seemed that many people in his team didn't even consider winning; when talking about those Major League stars, they all spoke in a tone of admiration.

Was he the only one who came here with the mindset of genuinely competing against them? If it was just about amicably going through the motions, then what's the point of such a game?

Glancing at the side, Lin Guanglai noticed Ohtani Shohai also looking at the American players on the other side of the field with similar eyes. He walked over to where Ohtani was, and slowly began speaking:

"Shohei, how do you see today's game? Or to put it differently, do you want to win? Do you think we can win?"

Ohtani Shohai hesitated for a moment before replying, "Who wouldn't want to win? Regardless of the circumstances, we should strive for victory without reservation; isn't this why we chose to become professional players?"

As he spoke, he extended his fist towards Lin Guanglai's direction. "Currently, I might still feel inferior to you, Guanglai; but this game, I'll go all out—are you ready?"

Lin Guanglai smiled, then touched his right fist to the one extended by his opponent. "Of course, I'm eager—let's make a scene and leave those proud Americans dumbfounded!"

Considering this Japan-US baseball exchange is considered a major event, a related opening ceremony was held before the game started, with officials from both Japan and US baseball associations and Naha city government all present.

Lin Guanglai didn't pay much attention to this, just followed the instructions of the onsite staff throughout, doing whatever he was told, then using his formal smile to greet the audience.

Once all the decorations on the field were removed and the fans in the stands settled back, the players from Japan Team took their gear and moved to the field to start defending.

For this game, head coach Kohkubo Yuuki arranged the following lineup:

The starting pitcher is naturally Lin Guanglai, winner of the Four Crown King and Eiji Sawamura Award in the 2014 season, with his catcher partner being Tanaka Masahiro's regular catcher at Rakuten, Shima Keihiro;

First baseman, Hiroshima Toyo Carp's Kikuchi Ryosuke, with Tokyo's two teams' twin stars Yamada Tetsuro and Sakamoto Yuuto forming the second and shortstop combination, and Matsuda Naohiro defending third base;

For the outfield, Nakata Shou in left field, Yanagida Yuuki in central field, and Itoi Yoshio in right field, all are top-tier outfielders proficient in both offense and defense.

Designated hitter role is taken by Softbank Team's veteran Nakagawa Seiichi.

This lineup is the strongest in terms of pure strength that Japan National Team can currently deploy, considering balanced offense and defense—clearly, at least for this first game, Kohkubo Yuuki intends to fiercely compete with the opponent.

As for Team USA's side, there's nothing much to say, the lineup is arranged according to the players' strength and personal wishes, and the leadoff hitter facing Lin Guanglai in this game is—

"Leadoff, Outfielder, Bryce Harper."

With the stadium broadcast announcing simultaneously, Bryce Harper from the Major League All-Star team on the third base side waltzed over towards home plate, chewing gum as he did; upon examining the slightly youthful face on the pitcher's mound, a subtle smile appeared on his face.

From the momentum of the crowd, this young pitcher seems to be quite famous among local players? So, what would these spectators look like if he smashed the ball this pitcher throws out of the park in front of so many people?

"Just thinking about it is entertaining..." To satisfy this mischievous pleasure, Harper slightly focused more, "Then let's use a little more strength this time."

Looking at that American in the batter's box who was as tall as him but clearly stronger, Lin Guanglai's memory was pulled back to the summer of 2010—in that summer, he heard a name from MLB City Youth Academy players, a super talent who joined a college league as a high school student, won every award, and was drafted by a Major League team as the top pick in the draft (see Volume 2, Chapter 007 The Legendary Genius).

That person is Bryce Harper standing in front of him.

To this day, Harper is already a supernova admired across the United States, his status among American baseball fans is almost equal to what Lin Guanglai is among Japanese fans; and these two geniuses are now having their first-ever clash on this stage.

Lin Guanglai can sense that Harper is not treating today's matchup with his utmost seriousness; thus, he decides to give the opponent a wake-up call.

Shima Keihiro positions the ball at Harper's inside corner, and in the next second, the baseball in Lin Guanglai's hand turned into a shadow, flying towards home plate.

The astonishing speed of the ball took Harper completely by surprise; not fully involved in the showdown, he barely saw the ball in the previous moment, and the umpire's decision came from behind in the next instant:

"Strike!"

Glancing at the scoreboard above the outfield, Harper's eyes widened; simultaneously accompanied by the unified exclamations of thirty thousand spectators:

165km/h!!!

Though startled by the speed of this fireball, Harper did not shrink away; on the contrary, a flame of battle ignited in his heart—thinking such matches were worthless, only to find an interesting pitcher in front of him.

"Interesting!"