Chapter 339 – Episode 331. Countdown to Return.
“Hello! This is Joo Jia from Jia Tube! It’s professional baseball time for this week, April 28th! “Today, we are with Commissioner Kim Seung-hyun.”
The most effective content on ‘Zia Tube’, run by Joo Jia, the younger brother of South Korea’s baseball hero and Joo Seung-cheol, who is currently active in professional baseball, is ‘Professor of the Week’, which covers the results and issues of a week’s games in the KBA League. It was ‘baseball’ content.
This content, which uses the connections of my father and brother to invite experts or celebrities who are widely known as baseball fans, allows me to know the weekly flow of the league, and Jia’s easy-to-hear, soft voice acts as an ASMR that baseball fans listen to before going to bed. It was content that guaranteed 300,000 to 400,000 views. That’s why Jia’s expression while hosting the content looked quite bright.
“Hello. This is sports TV commentator Kim Seung-hyeon!”
“It’s already been a month since professional baseball started, right?”
“You’re right. “It’s been almost a month since this season’s KBA League opened, and it can be said to be as competitive as ever.”
As commentator Seung-Hyeon Kim said, the 2024 KBA League was going quite intensely. Even after a month, the top and bottom ranks were tightly intertwined, with the gap between the 1st and 10th place teams being only 4.5 games.
“Has so much time already passed? I also had so much fun that I lost track of time.”
“Then shall we take a quick look at the leaderboard first? As competition for rankings was fierce, there were changes in rankings. The team at the top after all games this week is the Hwasan Falcons, who climbed to first place with a record of 5 wins and 1 loss!”
“Actually, it’s only been a month since the league started, but no one expected the Hwasan Falcons to come in first place, right?”
“Yes. Volcano Falcons. In fact, I expected a strong performance with Seonghyun, Lee Yong-gi, and Kim Joo-yeop joining, but with 1 win and 5 losses in the opening week, is Hwasan not going to be able to do it? There was this public opinion, and we steadily narrowed the lead, and this week we achieved a record of 5 wins and 1 loss, and eventually succeeded in regaining first place with a record of 16 wins and 10 losses.”
A month after the KBA League opened, the one that rose to the top in the fierce competition for rankings was the Hwasan Falcons, who have achieved a record of ‘A9AA9’ since 2019.
Last place three times and ninth place twice in five years. If we extend the scope to the past 10 years, excluding 2018, when we entered the wild card game with a score of ‘9AA95A9AA9’ and experienced elimination in the first game, the opening season was held by the Hwasan Falcons, an overwhelming underdog who finished last 6 times and 9th place 3 times over the past 10 years. Hwasan fans were so happy that they went up to first place in just a month.
And at the center of it all are Seonghyeon, who returned to his former team, and Lee Yonggi, who was recruited as a free agent. And there were promising players called the ‘Asian Games Gang of Four’ who had been gathered while they were in the lower ranks over the past few years.
“First, shall we talk about the performance of Seonghyeon, the captain who is leading the team?”
“That’s right. Seonghyun player. Actually, last year’s grades weren’t good, right? “After appearing in 23 games for the New York Yankees and posting an ERA of 5.41 in 108.1 innings and a record of 3 wins and 7 losses, there were many who thought that he had run away to Korea because he could no longer endure in the majors.”
“Actually, there was an injury last year, right?”
“You’re right. “Due to the aftereffects of the injury, last year his speed went down and he was having a hard time. Although he is not as good as he was in his prime this season, he is throwing a powerful ball, right?”
“Yes. Seonghyun is 38 years old in Korean age, and I know that he is producing results that can lead to people saying, “Seonghyun is a sunghyun.” Commissioner, could you explain in detail about Seonghyun’s performance?”
“Started in 5 games and recorded an ERA of 1.90 over 33.1 innings, with 4 wins and 1 loss. He is leading the momentum of the Volcanic Falcons.”
“And Lee Yong-gi is ranked first in home runs by hitting 6 home runs, right?”
“You’re right. Lee Yong-gi, who hit over 20 home runs for Jamsil every season he played full time, is now breaking free from the shackles of Jamsil and taking the top spot in home runs by hitting 6 home runs, adding weight to the Hwasan batting lineup.”
“In addition, talented young players lead the team, including Choi Si-woo, who is said to be the next generation national team first baseman, Chae Jae-hyun and Kim Min-jun, the one-two punch that supported the volcano until last season, and Shin Su-ho, who is aiming for the best closer in Korea now that Ko Young-hwan has left for the United States. “Yes.”
“I also went to watch the Hwasan game over the weekend, and the cleanup lineup of McD, Lee Yong-ki, and Choi Si-woo was terrifying. “I think there must have been a lot of pressure from the pitcher’s perspective to know how to deal with him.”
“It seems a bit lacking compared to AT’s Gi Ji-cheol trio, which is said to be the strongest cleanup of all time last year, but if I were to pick the strongest cleanup of this season so far, I would definitely pick Hwasan Falcons.”
“What if Ji Maeng-ho was there?”
“Haha, then the story will be different. Thinking about Ji Maeng-ho’s performance in the exhibition game still sends a chill down my spine. Moreover, the synergy between the batting lineup that Ji Maeng-ho possesses is at a tremendous level.”
“I guess so, right?”
Jia was happy and raised her tension after hearing the commentator praising Meng Hao.
“Yes. So this weekend, Ji Maeng-ho returns to the Children’s Day Series against Hancheol, and I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of performance he will show.”
“I’m also planning to go watch the Children’s Day series, and I’m really looking forward to Ji Maeng-ho’s return.”
*
[So now it is the 5th place team, and the team that took 5th place is AT Thunders with 12 wins and 13 losses. Why do you think last season’s winning team finished in 5th place? Commissioner?]
[I think the absence of players is also significant. In addition, there are too many injured or deserted people. First, Woo Kwan-hyeong, who called in runners that the cleanup trio could not solve in the 6th batting order last season, has not yet returned due to a hamstring injury. I heard that Lim Jun-hoo, who was one of the starting five starters in the second half of last year, is also taking a break from the second team as he was unable to recover his mentality after the incident. In addition, Don Williams, who was hitting .400 at the beginning of the season, has been out with an injury since last week and has not yet made the first team. It’s not the end. Veteran catcher Jeong Yun-cheol was also sent down to the second team due to a hamstring injury.]
[I see.]
[In addition, the bullpen, which was selected as AT’s weakness last year, was on fire day after day, excluding Se-ho Kang and Yun-ho Kim, and suffered the most upset losses this season. As a result, Jinhyuk Park, who finished last year, has moved down to the second team and is improving his condition. Furthermore…]
The reason why AT, the winning team last season, ranked 5th was simple. First, there were too many defectors. In the batting lineup, players like Yoon Seong-tae and Baek Jeong-jin, who showed their potential last season along with veterans Kim Su-ho, Ki Ki-ju, and Choi Jin-cheol, were struggling, but the bullpen’s weaknesses still remained.
[Besides?]
[As expected, Ji Maeng-ho’s absence is the biggest factor. Ji Maeng-ho, who hit .406 60 home runs last year, was left out of AT’s batting lineup, proving how big of a role Ji Maeng-ho is playing in AT, right?]
[I was also really sad to hear that Ji Maeng-ho, last season’s MVP, would be out for a month.]
‘Jia too, I see her almost every day when I’m in Seoul. Of course, Jia also likes baseball a lot, so she would like to see me at bat as well.’
When I heard Jia’s voice saying that she was sad because I was missing, I also started itching to get in the batter’s box. It’s been almost a month since I couldn’t play in a game due to suspension, and I’m even more nervous because I only have 4 games to go at bat.
During the month off due to suspension, my daily life was simple. On home game days, I trained with the first team players, and after training, I had sex with my girls and had fun, simple days. In particular, Hyuna, who did not even make it to the postseason in the women’s volleyball league, was almost living at my house to soothe her sadness, and was not even leaving the house except for training.
“Is that Jia’s voice?”
It’s been a few days since the league ended, but Hyuna still seemed to have some regret on her face.
‘Would I have felt that way if I had been eliminated?’
As a fellow professional athlete, she understood the sense of loss that Hyuna felt, so she hugged Hyuna’s washed up body and spoke to her.
“Have you washed everything?”
“Yeah, but what are you looking at?”
“I was watching Zia’s iTube while I was waiting. But it says in the comments that whenever my story comes up, her tension goes up. Should I leave a comment saying I’m not like that?”
“… “I don’t think it will help Jia?”
“I see… ?”
If Hyuna is like that, she must be like that. I stopped commenting and turned down the sound on my phone to the lowest level.
“But are you sure there are 4 games left?”
“Yes, I will adjust once in the second team on Saturday and if my condition looks good, I will be called up on Sunday. Well, there is no way I can’t go up, so I can assume I will go up on Sunday.”
My return schedule was already set. Even during the suspension period, I was training with the team and the coaches were constantly checking my condition. However, in order to get a feel for the game in real life, it was decided to upload it after watching him play one game in the second team.
Well, it would have been nice to be promoted to the first team right away, but since I didn’t understand the coaches’ thoughts, I accepted it.
“Sunday? It’s May 5th? “You’re coming back on Children’s Day?”
“Uh. Well, I didn’t mean to, but it happened that way.”
The day I move up to the first team is Sunday, Children’s Day. It wasn’t the intention of the coaches or me, but the idea of returning to the Children’s Day Jamsil Series held with Hancheol, the biggest event of the regular season, looked pretty good.
‘Hancheol was in 7th place right now, right? Seungcheol was doing well, but I think missing the starting catcher was a big blow.’
“Okay? Then this life is over…”
After hearing what I said, Hyuna muttered as if she was disappointed.
“Well, it’s not like I’m leaving.”
“What should I do if you go on an expedition? Hehe.”
Hyuna is even acting cute. It was clearly a huge shock that they couldn’t even go to the postseason. It’s been like this for several days.
‘If this is the case, then I have no choice but to appease you.’
Now 4 days until her return. In the meantime, she vowed to return Hyuna to her original state and began to grope her body, which was wearing only a towel.