Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 550 - 124: The Curse of Colonel Sanders

"The invincible Giant Army has fallen!"

In the home team's broadcasting room at Tokyo Dome, watching the Hanshin Tigers players celebrating wildly in the center of the field, the Yomiuri Giants commentators announced the result of the game in a heavy voice.

"No one expected that our highly anticipated Yomiuri Giants would suffer the humiliation of four consecutive losses, falling just one step away from the Japan Series."

"Although we had mentally prepared for possibly missing the Japan Series due to the injuries of aces Sugano Tomoyuki and Otake Hiroshi before this series started, losing to our arch-rivals in such a shameful way is absolutely unacceptable!"

"Looking at all four games, compared to our archenemies the Hanshin Tigers, this current Giant Army is severely lacking in balance between pitching and hitting—out of the four games, only captain Abe hit a timely hit, several bases-loaded opportunities resulted in double plays, and five out of the six home runs in the series were solo shots, completely suppressed by Hanshin's pitchers."

"In addition, the poor individual performances of star players are also something we need to reflect on: among the rotation pitchers, only Toshiya Sugiuchi completed his task with 6 innings and 2 earned runs, while the other pitchers did not meet expectations; Abe had 2 hits in 18 at-bats, with a batting average of .111; Sakamoto had 2 hits in 15 at-bats, with a batting average of .133—two ace hitters in the central lineup were completely extinguished, resulting in frequent setbacks in the team's offense."

"The Giant Army is never afraid of failure, but we must learn from it. Last year's Japan's Number One, and this year's climax battle, we have almost lost the games in the same manner—this can't help but make me ask, has this greatest club in Japan's history truly reached the point where change is necessary?"

As the Yomiuri Giants commentators were making their final summary of the season for their home team, the Hanshin Faction commentators from Kansai had already embraced each other tightly, celebrating the team's entry into the Japan Series after a nine-year hiatus; meanwhile, this was also their club's first victory in the climax battle.

"Since obtaining Japan's Number One in Showa 60 (1985), the following nearly 20 years have been a painful dark era for Hanshin fans—out of 15 seasons, a full 10 years at the bottom of the league, twice league domination yet always missing out on Japan's Number One… But it is precisely these failures that have forged our unyielding spirit and watered the fertile soil of Kansai baseball!"

"Thank you Coach Wada Toyohiko, thank you to all the Hanshin Tigers players! It is your relentless fighting on the field that allowed us to once again step over the Giants—now, don't look back, continue to move forward boldly! Let the roar of the king of beasts echo throughout Japan! We have reason to expect a grand ceremony beside Dotonbori once the Japan Series ends!"

When saying these words, the Hanshin Faction commentator's eyes were already blurred by tears: for the fans of Japan's second most prestigious team, such an opportunity has now arisen to release the pain and frustration suppressed for decades.

And as the Hanshin Tigers swept the Yomiuri Giants with the same score of 4 to 1, the final matchup for the 2014 season Japan Series was fully revealed:

Hanshin Tigers (Central League) vs. Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (Pacific League).

It is worth noting that, according to the Nippon Professional Baseball rules, since the Japan Series host this year is the Central League, the Hanshin Tigers representing the Central League will have the home field advantage in the series—which also means that if there is a Game 7 in the Japan Series, the final battle will take place at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in Hyogo Prefecture Nishinomiya City.

"Koshien Stadium is a notorious devil's home field in Japan, although our team has a decent win rate there, considering Hanshin Tigers have battled their way up, it's uncertain that they won't explode in performance…"

"So, in my opinion, the best approach is to secure a win at Koshien first, then seize the opportunity with three consecutive games at Yahoo Dome, ending the series directly at our home!"

While Fukuoka's various media were previewing the upcoming Japan Series, Lin Guanglai, who was called to the office by Coach Koji Akiyama, also learned about the coaching staff's deployment plan for him in the Japan Series:

Due to the rule of using Central League regulations for the games at Koshien, Lin Guanglai, with his pitching and hitting capabilities, naturally becomes SoftBank Team's powerful weapon under this rule—Koji Akiyama also plans to have him as the starting pitcher in the most critical first game, making contributions on both pitching and hitting fronts for the team.

However, considering Lin Guanglai's "fierce" performance in Koshien over the past two years during interleague play, Koji Akiyama had to remind him of a few things he needs to be cautious about:

"You should be aware of the Hanshin situation over there, their fans are the most fervent bunch, especially with the Japan Series about to take place, so you need to be psychologically prepared—when you pitch at Koshien, those die-hard fans' mouths are sure not to be clean."

In response, Lin Guanglai merely smiled calmly and said, "Don't worry, Coach, I know what to do. I will make them all shut up with my performance!"

Feeling the youthful spirit emanating from this disciple, Koji Akiyama reluctantly rubbed his forehead—this is exactly what he was worried about?