Chapter 633 – Episode 620. Not Happy to See You, Friend! (1)
-Professional baseball rankings as of May 31st.
1st Place Hwasan Falcons 36 wins, 17 losses, 1 draw, 0.679 0
2nd place Hyunseong Mad Cats 32 wins, 24 losses, 0.571 5.5
3rd place Shilla Triggers 31 wins, 26 losses, 0.544 7
4th place Charlotte Blue Mariners 27 wins, 26 losses, 1 draw, 0.509 9
5th place Future Buffaloes 27 wins 27 losses 0.500 9.5
6th place JT Golden Eyes 26 wins, 28 losses, 1 draw, 0.481 10.5
7th place AT Thunders 26 wins, 30 losses, 0.464 11.5
8th place Hancheol Grizzlies 23 wins, 30 losses, 0.434 13
9th place UG Overlords 22 wins, 30 losses, 1 draw, 0.423 13.5
10th place NV Rex 22 wins, 34 losses, 0.393 15.5
-AT Thunders, what are the chances of a rebound?
… The 9th place record by the AT Thunders until one month after the opening month was an unsuitable record for the AT Thunders, who were on the throne from the 2023 season to the 2025 season.
… The AT Thunders were in an unsuitable position of 9th place for various reasons, including the sluggishness of the batting lineup that did not produce the same results as last year, the fielders’ mistakes early in the season, and the absence of ace Crongs, who had 20 wins last year.
However, in the past month, AT Thunders showed that they are back on track with a record of 13 wins and 12 losses, moving up to 7th place. The AT Thunders, who started to gain momentum after Children’s Day when Ji Maeng-ho recorded a ‘Hit for the Cycle’ and ended up losing, faced a crisis when they faced the first and second place teams, Hwasan and Hyeonseong, but Ji Maeng-ho’s 4 home runs in one game helped the AT Thunders. Turned the mood around and won a sweep…
┗Sseu-eup, if this is enough, you can go to fall baseball, right?
┗These bastards are scary when fall comesㅡ
┗Maeng Ho-sin’s fall batting average is .602, 7 %, 18 home runs, and 35 stolen bases in 20 games. Just think of this guy as crazy if he goes in the fall
┗┗Are people’s grades? He’s crazy?
┗┗You hit 6 home runs in 4 games last year
┗┗KBA teams must unite and prevent AT fall from happening ㅅㅂ
– Ji Maeng-ho, May Monthly MVP Award!
… Ji Maeng-ho appeared in 26 games in May and recorded 25 hits, 14 home runs, 34 runs, and 37 RBIs, successfully winning the monthly MVP award for the following April. During this period, Ji Maeng-ho’s batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS were 0.391/0.639/1.281/1.920…
┗I hit it like this, but it’s not even 40%. How did you hit .400 for 3 years in a row?
┗┗It seems like there are more walks. They don’t give good balls often.
┗┗Looking at Maeng Ho-shin’s records, it seems amazing that he hit .400 batting average, .600 on-base percentage, and hit 75 home runs.
*
“Wow, schedule hell. What? Silla, Hwasan, Hyeonseong 3-game series? I’m going crazy. Really, how can you meet 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place all at once? Hey, what’s the starting rotation like?”
“If the rotation goes as planned, we will meet Kim Won-ho in the 3rd match at Silla, Hwasan will be Tinie, Chae Jae-hyun, Kim Min-jun, and Hyun-seong will be Choi Jung-hoon, Nick, and Hwang Dae-hyun?”
“And… I only meet aces. “I’m glad Seonghyeon escaped.”
“… If it were director Moon Ki-taek, could he use Seong-hyun by adjusting the rote? “He’s good at sniping Aces against low-ranking teams.”
“Under… It wasn’t like this until last year.”
“Well, we have to work hard.”
“Still, I’ll take a breather before NV.”
“… Next is Mirae, Volcano, and Charlotte…”
“Under… Except for the NV game for 3 weeks, everything is fall baseball. Mirae and Charlotte are also ranked 4th and 5th.”
“What are you talking about like that?”
“Meng Hao, are you here? We were just talking about schedules. “The June schedule is a bit hellish.”
“Who cares? All we have to do is beat everyone, and we come in first place.”
“… That’s right.”
*
[Top of the 9th inning, one out. With the bases loaded at 3-3, the pitcher changes. The pitcher on the mound is the finisher, Ryu Tae-hyun.]
[This means that Shilla Triggers is going to win today’s game, right? We won yesterday’s game, and if we win today, Kim Won-ho will come up tomorrow, so I think the calculation is that we will sweep here.]
[And at the plate, Gigi Joo. … Weather warning, 3-ball strike! Shortstop dash! Grab it! Home! Out! At first base! It’s three leaves! Three leaves! Weather caution was a little faster!]
[Because the hit ball was ambiguous, I thought the 6-4-3 double play was ambiguous and threw the ball home. I tried to throw the ball back to first base, but it was too late, right?]
[Ryu Tae-hyun is very disappointed.]
[It has to be that way. The inning should have ended here… The next batter is Ji Maeng-ho?]
[Top of the 9th inning, two outs, bases loaded, 3-3 tie. And this batter! Ji Maeng-ho comes to bat.]
*
‘Whoa…’
Just before going to bat, he takes a deep breath, as is his habit, and then takes his steps. They lost the game yesterday, and Wonho is expected to appear tomorrow. This at-bat was even more important because if we had lost until today, we could have been swept.
Well, it wasn’t particularly burdensome or anything like that. I just do what I normally do.
‘… But aren’t you burdened?’
Ryu Tae-hyun, who was on the mound, was glaring at me like a closing pitcher and wasn’t showing any signs right now, but I could tell.
In particular, the boy’s strong expression of regret when he failed to turn in Sangju senior’s batted ball as a double play was enough to show that he was very scared.
The pattern of these pitchers was obvious. Throwing the ball with the first pitch and seeing what happens. You may not want to give a walk because the bases are loaded, but does that mean you throw the ball into the strike zone from the first pitch?
“Ball.”
… That didn’t happen either.
‘154 km/h. Restraint is not bad.’
His first pitch was a fastball that deviated to the outside. Since he is a guy who likes to throw a forkball, he seemed to be thinking of trying a fastball and then hitting my bat with a forkball. If it had been a normal situation, it would have been the right choice, but now, two outs and bases loaded.
The situation was not good to drop the forkball at all. If the forkball fell further than expected and resulted in a wild throw, one point was awarded for free. Also, considering the movements of the guy who was completely scared…
‘If this is the case, it’s okay to aim for the forkball, right? ‘I won’t be able to throw it on the ground anyway.’
A fastball in the mid 150s and a forkball in the low 130s would have been a tough combination without Rossby’s help, but it wasn’t that difficult if the ball to aim for was determined. All I had to do was wait until his ball landed where I wanted.
“Strike!”
“Ball.”
Perfect!
“Foul!”
I pretended not to aim for the forkball, but before I knew it, the situation was two balls, two strikes. The perfect situation to throw the deciding ball was created. If I throw a fastball here, I’ll be an asshole who strikes out at this golden opportunity, but would a scared guy have the guts to do that?
‘Isn’t it scary if you make a mistake after getting a three-ball? You want to throw the decisive ball here and get a strikeout. Throw the forkball, throw the forkball.’
Stare into the guy’s eyes and shake the end of the bat to hypnotize him into throwing a forkball. And then, the guy’s head nods. It means he is ready to throw. The timing was obvious as it was a player I had been competing against since the first year. All that’s left is for him to throw the ball where I want.
His legs began to slowly rise, his body shot forward, and his hands swung.
‘… ‘Two, three!’
And looking at that, I swung the bat according to the timing of his forkball without any doubt about my judgment.
The trajectory of my bat coincides with his ball, which is gradually falling.
Ta-ah!
“Ah… Fuck.”
“The combination is obvious.”
“… “Don’t be damned and go your own way.”
“Yes! “I’m going!”
In the bottom of the 9th inning, the catcher had an at-bat, so after putting the catcher in a state of confusion, he returned to home with enthusiastic cheers from the crowd.
‘If this happens, 1 win and 1 loss. Well, considering the schedule is tight, it’s not a bad start.’
*
“Today, let’s meet Ji Maeng-ho, who led the team to victory by hitting a grand slam with the score tied at 3-3 in the top of the 9th inning! Hello!”
“Hello! It’s Ji Maeng-ho!”
“Wow, your voice is very bright?”
“I feel bright because I won.”
“… Yes. That’s right. Hmm… I can’t help but talk about the bases-loaded situation, where you hit a forkball and hit a bases-loaded home run, right? “Are you targeting me?”
“Yes. I aimed for it. I went to bat, but the pitcher was very scared…, Ah, can’t I say this? He was very scared. So I felt like I was going to throw an ambiguous forkball.”
“Okay…”
…
“… Then, please tell me a word about tomorrow’s game.”
“Oh, it looks like Wonho will be the starter tomorrow. It’s the first game this season, right? With Wonho. Wonho didn’t meet me, so his ERA was around 1? Wonho, I’ll beat the dog tomorrow, look forward to it.”
“… Yes? Yes? Ah, yes. Well, then the interview broadcast here is like…”
*
After I gathered the players together on Children’s Day, the team was getting better. The team that had previously recorded 14 wins and 19 losses recorded 27 wins and 31 losses, rising to around .500. Are we now at a level where we can call ourselves a team?
Of course, there was still a long way to go. There were many times when we fell helplessly when competing against top teams.
However, the batting line changed organically, and we could have become stronger if senior Jincheol, who went to the second team, or Suho, who was injured, returned, so we were not too impatient.
The problem is how the team can improve even a little bit until those seniors return. I heard that he would return around mid-June, but the schedule was a little tight.
We are now in the process of reorganizing and moving up, so if we fail here, we could not even go to the fall baseball season and the season could end, so winning each game was important. Do we need a month to see a clear upward trend before summer?
So, during the interview yesterday, I did not hold back and conducted the interview as usual in order to prevent other colleagues from losing confidence.
“Strike! Out!”
“Strike! Out!”
“Strike! Out!”
“Sir, how was it?”
“That bastard, did you take medicine? Wow, the two hearts are dancing?”
… Wonho was in a strange state today. Even from the dugout or standby batting box, you can feel the ball is alive.
‘Fuck, this is unexpected…’
It’s a situation where a winning series is a must for the team’s mood. I wasn’t that happy about my friend’s good fight, which I should have been happy about.