Chapter 357 – Episode 349. Fall of a Dynasty? (1)

-AT Thunders, winning series in Volcano!

… AT Thunders achieved a winning series thanks to the performance of fourth hitter Ji Maeng-ho. …

ㄴGazua regains first place!!!

ㄴWhy the fuck do you have to be in a bad mood because you lost on Sunday?

ㄴWow, the batting lineup is terrifying now that Ji Maeng-ho is back. Seonghyun, Garcia, and Chae Jae-hyeon were on the loose.

How are you going to stop Ji Maeng-ho?

-The AT Thunders are in trouble! Reclaim 2nd place!

… AT Thunders, who won the winning series against JT Gold Eyes, has 22 wins, 18 losses, and 1 draw, and is chasing first place Hwasan Falcons, who recorded 23 wins and 18 losses, by 0.5 games. After Ji Maeng-ho’s return, AT Thunders’ record in 10 games was 8 wins and 2 losses…

Meanwhile, AT Thunders meet UG Overlords, who are ranked 7th, this weekend. Baseball fans are paying attention to what kind of performance the AT Thunders, with Ji Maeng-ho’s return, will show against the UG Overlords.

ㄴThe feeling of intimidation in the batting line is different. AT is just this bastard.

ㄴSo this guy hit 6 home runs in 10 games? How many home runs are in first place right now?

ㄴㄴJoo Seung-cheol 11, Kang Han-beom 9, Lee Yong-gi 8, Koo Jin-mo 8, Lee Jin-hong 8.

Damn it, Jinhong Lee, stop being nice! I’m going to break up again at the National University.

ㄴㄴJi Maeng-ho will be picking up soon.

Let’s just give AT the win and start again. Since Ji Maeng-ho is back, I’m no match for him haha

*

“Hey, UG is in 7th place now?”

“Ma, didn’t you know? They are normal children.”

“Is it that much?”

Perhaps because I watched baseball occasionally during my break, I had no idea that UG was so low in the rankings. 19 wins, 21 losses, 1 draw, winning percentage 0.475. It was a good result, if not bad, but considering it was the performance of UG, which has been on the Korean Series stage for the past 6 years, it was a shabby result.

‘Well, the situation is better than Hyeonseong.’

Hyunseong Mad Cats’ current record is 18 wins, 23 losses, and 10th place with a winning percentage of 0.439. As it was the most competitive season ever, they only had 5 games to go with 1st place Hwasan, but this was not a performance suitable for a prestigious team like Hyunseong.

And I felt a little sorry that I had unintentionally influenced that grade. After the match-fixer was punished, Hyunseong seemed to be shaken a lot, both internally and externally. It seemed difficult for even the most prestigious team to endure the loss of the league’s best finisher to the majors and to be shaken on the outside.

‘Well, if you listen to the seniors in Hyeonseong, they say there was chaos inside as well.’

In particular, Hyunseong’s starting catcher, Junghyun senior, who introduced that bastard to me, kept contacting me to say he was sorry, and it was almost annoying.

Of course, both teams were in the bottom half of the rankings, but they were teams that could move up at any time as they only had a short gap between them and Hwasan, who was in first place, so they couldn’t let their guard down. That’s why I planned to do my best in today’s game as usual.

‘It’s literature, so pump up the number of home runs.’

“Wow, let’s split it?”

“Was I smiling?”

“Okay. “Don’t you even know you’re smiling?”

“I’m excited to hit a home run.”

“… “Tolly?”

“Honestly, aren’t you excited when you go to literature or study books? Oh, and Suwon too. “My brother also hit a home run in Suwon.”

“… Well, let’s do it.”

“Honestly, the batters who play in Jamsil need an annual salary increase of 100 million won. It’s too wide, and it’s frustrating.”

“Does it seem like a deception because you are that guy? “Who are you kidding?”

“Hey, just teasing me. A few were caught in Jamsil this time.”

“But if you’re harsh, I’ll get over it, kid.”

“Instead, here, even if you miss, you get away with it.”

The paradise of others, literature. Besides, there were good memories here. It was this stadium that decided the championship last year. It’s a shame that Moon Ki-taek, who could go on a rampage once provoked, is no longer there.

“Seniors, please come out.”

While I was talking with Seongtae Yoon, the youngest members, Hwicheol Jeong and Hyeonseong, came into the locker room and shouted as the game was about to start. I quickly put my cell phone in the locker and got ready to leave.

*

[Hello! The fourth match of the season between UG Overlords and AT Thunders, and AT Thunders and UG Overlords, will unfold in Munhak.]

[It is a match between the AT Thunders, who are on the rise, and the UG Overlords, who are in a slump in 7th place. There are probably many fans who predict that the AT Thunders will win, right?]

[AT Thunders’ upward trend. What could be the cause?]

[As expected, Ji Maeng-ho’s return is the biggest thing. Ji Maeng-ho has appeared in 10 games since his return, and in these 10 games, he has a batting average of .405, an on-base percentage of 0.604, and a slugging percentage of 1.182, with an OPS of a whopping 1.786. Plus, 6 home runs and 17 RBIs are bonuses. Of course, the sample is still small with 10 games, but considering Ji Maeng-ho’s performance last year, I don’t think he will fall that far.]

[There is also good news for AT Thunders, right?]

[You’re right. Don Williams, a mercenary hitter who hit .400 before being removed from the roster due to injury, is now playing in the second team. Choi Jin-cheol, who began to come back to life with the return of Ji Maeng-ho, and Don Williams, who returned from injury. AT’s upward trend does not seem to end for the time being.]

[Kim Su-ho, Ki Ki-ju, Ji Maeng-ho, Choi Jin-cheol, Williams. The batting lineup is terrifying, isn’t it?]

[After all, the key hitters who created the strongest batting lineup of all time last year are still alive and well. If Woo Kwan-hyung, who is scheduled to return around the end of June, adds strength, there will be nothing to be afraid of.]

[So, how do you view UG Overlords’ sluggish performance?]

[UG Overlords. Last season, he took first place in the regular season and took second place after losing unfortunately in the Korean Series, but you can see that he is faltering this season, right? There is also an opinion that the absence of coach Moon Ki-taek, who sent UG to the Korean Series every year as the head coach for six years, is significant, but I do not think so. Director Eugene Hyung is also a capable director. However, the slump of foreign players is significant.]

[Yes. In UG Overlords, all three foreign players have changed, right?]

[You’re right. First, Benjamin, who was a long-serving mercenary, was replaced by Klein, and in 5 games, Peron, a mercenary hired to replace McCain, recorded a batting average in the low .200 range and two home runs at 4.43, and is currently undergoing adjustment in the second team. In particular, there is a huge vacancy as Austin Webb, a pitcher Golden Glove winner and MVP-level performer, left for Japan after receiving a large contract.]

[And today, Jeffery, who was brought in to replace Austin Webb, takes the starting mound.]

[Jeffrey has also been excluded from the entry list for the past three weeks due to back pain, but UG fans are looking forward to seeing what he will show today. Before the injury, he appeared in two games and showed a good performance, recording an ERA of 3.24.]

[After returning from injury, UG’s new mercenary Jeffrey, who took the mound under a special order to lift the mood of the stagnant team, is in his 4th year, and is the ace who supported the AT Thunders’ mound during difficult times and last year’s AT Thunders teammate. Bellingham, the protagonist of the first championship in the 21st century, will compete. First, the national ritual begins before the game.]

The national anthem rings out at Munhak Stadium along with the caster’s words. And the expressions on the faces of the UG Overlords players lined up in front of the dugout to perform the national ritual looked quite serious.

That was inevitable because the 7th place result was not suitable for UG Overlords. In the past 10 years, the seasons in which the team did not advance to fall baseball were 2014 and 2017. In just two seasons, the UG Overlords were a strong team that dominated the KBA.

In particular, since coach Moon Ki-taek took office, the team has advanced to the Korean Series for all the past six years from 2018 to 2023 and won twice, making it the team closest to a dynasty along with Hyun-seong in the late 2010s.

However, last year’s runner-up ruined everything. Benjamin, a long-serving mercenary who had been with the team for four years, did not renew his contract because an ace-level pitcher was needed, and McCoin, a blackmailer, was also released due to his subversive performance in the Korean Series. In addition, Webb, the team’s ace, accepted a large offer from Japan and left the team.

If the new mercenaries had been active, the situation would have been different, but UG’s fans and the club, which had been eating 1st and 2nd place, were not satisfied, and in fact, looking at the mercenaries’ performance so far, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the mercenary farming was a poor harvest. 〈 Br〉

In addition, as the team continued to slump, the team split. Some players thought they could have won if Ji Maeng-ho’s intentional throws had been thrown in every at-bat, while others said they would have won if he had not made intentional throws in the first place. There are two categories.

Therefore, for UG, this series against AT was quite important. Because it was Ji Maeng-ho’s first series after his return, if he won, it could have been an opportunity for the divided players to unite.

‘We have to win this game…’

And that fact was something that UG’s new director, Jinhyeong Yoo, also felt keenly. I was even thinking that this series might be a watershed for the season.

‘How can I stop Ji Maeng-ho… Ha, I just want to skip everything like my senior.’

The more I watched Ji Maeng-ho’s video and looked at his performance, the more I thought I wanted to filter him out with an intentional phrase like former coach Moon Ki-taek, but I couldn’t do that. Officially, the reason Moon Ki-taek could not renew his contract was because of the low winning percentage of the Korean Series, but everyone knew that.

The real reason Moon Ki-taek was unable to renew his contract was because baseball fans offended public opinion and the feelings of high-ranking officials in the team by ordering an intentional walk-out every at-bat, which was unprecedented in baseball history.

‘Please, I hope Ji Maeng-ho’s condition is not good. And I hope the players get through it well.’

If it had been Moon Ki-taek, he would have studied and exploited Ji Maeng-ho’s weaknesses with the league’s top power analysis team during the winter, but unfortunately for UG fans, Jin-hyung Yoo could only pray while watching Jeffrey practice pitching on the mound.

[Now, the first batter, Jeong Hwi-cheol, comes in. His season batting average is .302 8 ri. The on-base percentage is .409.]

[It seems like AT has found a new treasure after last year. Taking advantage of mercenary hitter Williams’ injury, he is being named in the starting lineup, and unlike a rookie player, he is a hitter with a remarkable ability to hit the ball with the bat. He struck out only one while issuing eight walks. He is a fairly difficult hitter for pitchers as he sees a lot of balls while cutting as much as possible.]

And then the match between starting pitchers Jeffrey and Jeong Hwi-cheol began.

Perfect!

[This hit is a ground ball to second base. Jeffrey catches the first batter.]

[It looks like Jeffrey’s injury has fully recovered?]

Jeong Hwi-cheol retired with a ground ball to second base after an 8-pitch game, but it was not a meaningless out count.

‘What? It’s a mess? I was expecting it because I heard it came instead of the web, but it’s not much different from what I saw in the video.’

This was because Meng Hao had time to watch the new pitcher’s pitch in the dugout.

‘Average speed is mid to high 140s? He focuses on two-seamer, his slider is shit, and his main weapons are curve and change-up. … Is it my food? Did you say the ball was a bit heavy?’

Maengho, who quickly finished judging Jeffrey, called out Jeong Hwicheol, who was returning to the dugout.

“Hey, how are you?”

“Ah, bro. It seems heavy. Are your hands still feeling a little tingly? Still, I think you can overcome it with Meng Hao.”

“Baby, you know how to look at people.”

“Oh, and it seems like the pitch is more depressed than when you see it in the video. A bit like a sinker. “I think I couldn’t pitch properly at the beginning of the season because of the injury.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

As Meng Hao learned more about Geoffrey, the probability that Eugene Hyung’s prayer would come true was decreasing.