After all, for a team of journalists eager to delve deeper and obtain more insider information, having a member like Uesugi Yasuyuki, who has a close relationship with Lin Guanglai, might bring them some surprises.

In this regard, Uesugi Yasuyuki's ability to come to the United States as part of the Daily Sports team this time owes much to his past relationship with Lin Guanglai.

Since their last separation, although they maintained online contact, they hadn't met in real life in a long time... Considering Lin Guanglai's current special status, Uesugi Yasuyuki is also unsure how much impression Lin Guanglai still has of him.

Time arrived at the morning of October 27th, the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers World Series Game 3 match day. New York, waking from the night, almost instantly entered a state of celebration:

The Daily Sports crew found the road from the hotel to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx completely jammed.

Even though the game would only start in the evening at East United States time, the excited New York fans seemed unable to wait even a moment and started heading to the Bronx with their families early in the morning.

The situation wasn't much different for Lin Guanglai, who woke up from his home in Alpine: a drive that usually took about 20 minutes now took nearly an hour due to continuous stops.

By the time Lin Guanglai's personal assistant, Sanada, parked the car, there wasn't much time left before the Yankees players were supposed to gather.

Outside the player entrance tunnel, the reporters gathered there suddenly had their eyes light up as they saw Lin Guanglai hurrying out of the parking lot with his bag, rushing to catch up with him and hoping to extract some new information from the current star player of the New York Yankees. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Saito and Uesugi Yasuyuki were among them.

Initially, due to traffic issues and being almost late, Lin Guanglai planned to ignore these bothersome reporters; however, as he glanced toward the nearby reporter area, his steps involuntarily slowed down:

Among the group of black and white faces, those two Asian faces were particularly prominent; not to mention, Uesugi Yasuyuki was once his best playmate and had been his catching partner since junior high.

Ignoring the noisy North American journalists, Lin Guanglai slowed his pace, walked to the sideline, confirmed he hadn't mistaken the person, and excitedly said to the other, "Yasuyuki, long time no see — how did you end up in the Bronx?"

Seeing that Lin Guanglai, now a world-renowned baseball star, recognized his old teammate at a glance, Uesugi Yasuyuki couldn't help but feel a bit emotional; quickly collecting himself, he replied to the tall figure before him:

"Guanglai, I'm now Saito's assistant for the Daily Sports MLB section," he said, not forgetting to introduce Saito to Lin Guanglai, "Our team will be covering both inside and outside the stadium for the three match days here in New York..."

Lin Guanglai nodded and extended his hand to greet Saito: "Hello, Mr. Saito."

Despite covering MLB events for many years, Saito had never experienced a situation like this: faced with Lin Guanglai's greeting, he respectfully shook the proffered hand, his words and demeanor showing humility.

For Lin Guanglai, meeting his high school friend on the other side of the ocean was undoubtedly a delightful surprise:

If not for the ongoing World Series and the fast-approaching pre-game gathering, he would really want to find an opportunity to sit down and catch up with the other;

However, due to time constraints, he merely engaged in a brief conversation, leaving a promise to reunite with Uesugi Yasuyuki after the World Series and an upcoming exclusive interview with Daily Sports, then strode away toward the Yankees players' area, leaving behind other trailing reporters.

Feeling the envious eyes from journalists from other countries around him, Uesugi Yasuyuki couldn't shake it off for a long time; standing there, he merely savored Lin Guanglai's departing words to them.

"...Let's find a chance to get together after the World Series ends, we can talk about how much we've all changed over these years — After all, it's just three more games to go."

Thankfully, they communicated in Japanese just now, otherwise, if those North American reporters caught wind of it, Lin Guanglai's words might instantly become headline news —

The idea of "just three more games to go" represented, in his mind, the confidence that the Yankees would take all three home games that followed... Thinking about this, Uesugi Yasuyuki couldn't help but laugh:

Despite all the changes over the years, Lin Guanglai's nature hasn't changed a bit!

When Lin Guanglai entered the team locker room, the coach and teammates were basically all there; almost immediately upon his arrival, Head Coach Girardi rushed over and inquired about his situation:

"Lin, why were you late today? Did anything happen?"

Since joining the New York Yankees, regardless of circumstances, Lin Guanglai had never been late even once;

Especially at such a key moment, with only steps away from victory, any unexpected situation was worrisome — so when Girardi couldn't initially spot Lin Guanglai, he was incredibly anxious.

This Yankees team could miss anyone, but they couldn't miss Lin Guanglai; he was the key player in securing victory.

"Apologies, Coach, the New York fans were way too enthusiastic, the traffic was backed up for a long time; I also ran into an old high school friend as I entered the stadium, so I was delayed a bit."

After briefly apologizing to Girardi and his teammates, knowing what he needed to do, Lin Guanglai turned and walked to the front of the locker room, where he pulled out five 100 US Dollar bills from his wallet and placed them in the jar there.

This was a Yankees team rule: if anyone was late on game day, they had to pay a fine of 100 US Dollars for every late minute, and the fines would be placed in a small coffer at the front of the locker room to fund future team activities.

Rules were rules; even if Lin Guanglai was only 5 minutes late, even if it was due to traffic, once late, he had to willingly pay the fine.

This rule-setting evidently contributed to the young Yankees team's great success this season.

Once Lin Guanglai sat down before his locker, confirming everyone was present, Girardi finally nodded in satisfaction and stepped into the center of the locker room.

"Starting today, the following three games will all be held in the Bronx — I believe the entire team is highly cohesive on this matter, that we must aim to resolve this series on our home ground!"

"The Dodgers are not a team we can handle casually, so my demand for everyone in the upcoming games is simple: treat each game as a G7 life-and-death match, fight hard to win each game, each at-bat, each defensive play — with all your might!"

"Today's starting pitcher for the Dodgers is Yu Darvish, and the strategy meeting ahead will involve our data team analyzing all characteristics of the opponent… Let the New York fans go wild for you once again in tonight's game!"

"Now, I'll announce the starting lineup for today…"