Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 599 - 147: Power of the Magic Pitch (Part 2)

After three seasons of trials, with the growth in age and the continuous increase in game training intensity, Lin Guanglai's physical endurance and physical qualities have significantly improved—the most obvious being his weight, which has increased from 85 kilograms when he just entered professional baseball to the current 98 kilograms. His physical toughness is far beyond what it once was.

And the result of the significant increase in physical strength and endurance is that the "Dual Swordsmanship" training plan, which includes the "starting pitcher + immovable fourth batter" concept, will become a reality this season!

Just like today's opening game, Lin Guanglai is not only honored as the starting pitcher but also takes over the fourth batter position from the now-departed Lee Dae-ho, showcasing the most perfect form of Dual Swordsmanship in his fourth season in the Nippon Professional Baseball.

As the time for the opening game draws nearer, the number of fans arriving at Yahoo Dome is increasing: after Lin Guanglai announced that he would challenge the Major League after the end of this season, a buying frenzy erupted among SoftBank fans, with home game tickets that had already been sold out early, and even tickets for games against other teams and SoftBank have seen significant sales growth.

Under the careful arrangement of the fan support groups, at the first game of the new season, banners and slogans specially made for Lin Guanglai appeared in the stands of Yahoo Dome, with home fans trying to express their love and reluctance for Lin Guanglai and their support for him in pursuing his dreams.

The SoftBank Team's official side has already announced that at the end of the season, regardless of the final result, they will host a farewell ceremony for Lin Guanglai at Yahoo Dome, which is expected to be another bloody battle on the ticket release day.

Meanwhile, Lin Guanglai, the focus of the event, is already warming up in the bullpen before the game: with the help of many professionals, he has now fully mastered the magic ball he accidentally discovered, which he calls the "fork slider"—in today's game, he is preparing to let the Seibu Lions hitters experience something completely new.

After the grand opening ceremony and start-of-the-season rituals, the opening game between Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and Saitama Seibu Lions officially began.

Amid the loud chants of the home fans and the grand entrance music, Lin Guanglai stretched lazily as he was onscreen in front of more than 40,000 home fans, then unhurriedly walked up to the pitching mound, displaying his extraordinarily relaxed mindset.

On the other side, the Seibu Lions hitters weren't as relaxed: facing the reigning Eiji Sawamura Award winner, arguably the best pitcher in Japan, they could feel the immense pressure emanating from the pitcher's mound just by standing in the batter's box. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Even though the lead-off hitter for this game was Akiyama Shingo, who set the highest hit record in Nippon Professional Baseball history last season.

After watching the NHK TV Station's program "Baseball Dormitory" on "push hitting," Akiyama Shingo, who had been inconsistent in hitting over the previous few seasons, made up his mind to transition into a contact hitter.

Subsequent events proved that this transition was indeed effective: last season, he had a batting average of .359, with a total of 216 hits, breaking Ichiro Suzuki's 1994 record of 210 hits in a single season, becoming the first in history.

Logically, facing a batter who is at the peak of his career, any pitcher would be wary of the opponent to some extent, but Lin Guanglai showed no such signs; on the contrary, after the chief umpire announced the start of the game, he quickly sent a high-pressure fastball towards Akiyama Shingo's inner corner.

The baseball that had just leaped off Lin Guanglai's fingertips flew into Takeshima Shinya's glove behind the home plate with a loud "bang" almost in the blink of an eye—Akiyama Shingo in the batter's box could only feel a gust of wind pass by him, barely able to see a trace, with no chance of swinging.

"Strike!" came the powerful voice of the chief umpire from behind.

"Lin Guanglai has gotten stronger again!" was Akiyama Shingo's first thought upon seeing this pitch, "He was already a five-time champion level pitcher, yet he can become even stronger... Monster, this person is definitely a monster!"

Forcibly suppressing his shock, Akiyama Shingo took several deep breaths to adjust his mindset before returning to the batter's box.

According to Seibu's data team's analysis of Lin Guanglai, the pitching combination of Lin Guanglai and Takeshima Shinya's favorite and most efficient pitching sequence is the standard fastball, fastball, and forkball combo—especially since Lin Guanglai's forkball speed reaches up to 150 km/h, making it even harder for batters to distinguish between the types of pitches, and they are very likely to suffer a strikeout.

"So, my strategy next should be to let go of that fastball, then focus on the forkball, and hit the ball the moment the trajectory changes..." Akiyama Shingo thought to himself, eyes fixed on the pitching mound.

Sure enough, as anticipated, Lin Guanglai's second pitch was indeed a fastball, but this time, the trajectory moved to the high outer corner—this still demonstrated Lin Guanglai's strong control ability, as the baseball seemed to understand his intentions, accurately landing on the high outer corner edge, leaving the batter helpless.

Still a strike.

Despite the 0-2 count disadvantage, Akiyama Shingo was not particularly tense at this moment: it seemed the opponent's pitching strategy was within his expectations, even though Lin Guanglai's signature forkball was notoriously difficult to hit, that was at least when unknown; knowing the pitch types in advance exponentially increases the batter's probability of getting a hit.

As the player who rewrote the history of Nippon Professional Baseball last season, even if Akiyama Shingo didn't want to face Lin Guanglai, he at least had this level of confidence.

In the catcher's seat, Takeshima Shinya certainly noticed the change in the batter's demeanor and emotions; he could pretty much guess the opponent's thoughts, most likely that the opponent thought they had guessed the next pitch would be a forkball and believed they could hit it...

In response, Takeshima Shinya somehow felt like laughing—they underestimated this catcher of the championship team a bit too much, did they really think he wouldn't foresee such a routine?

In the past, Takeshima Shinya would probably have chosen an unexpected fastball changeup next to conclude; however, after the spring training camp stories...

Behind the mask, Takeshima Shinya smiled, signaling the pitch sequence with his right hand between his legs: since the opponent wanted a forkball, let them have it—though this forkball is not quite the usual one...

Placing the baseball between two fingers, Lin Guanglai nodded towards home plate, and in the next moment, the ball flew between his fingers towards home plate.

With a speed around 150 km/h, the release and trajectory were completely consistent, no doubt, this pitch was Lin Guanglai's trademark forkball—holding this thought, Akiyama Shingo no longer hesitated, decisively swinging the bat with full force!

The anticipated fierce collision did not occur; instead, a terrified expression appeared on Akiyama Shingo's face in the batter's box, as he could hardly believe what he saw:

The high-speed baseball was not only dropping drastically but also consistently moving horizontally, and his bat had just narrowly missed making contact with the ball!

"Strike!"

"Strikeout!!!"

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