Chapter 677 – Episode 664. A Powerful Pitcher in the League. (1)
Leading the major categories of the 2026 KBA League.
Most wins ranking
1. Kim Won-ho, Silla’s 18 wins
2. Seonghyeonhwasan 18 wins
3. Tinie Volcano 17 wins
4. Choi Jung-hoon and Hyunseong 16 wins
5. Chae Jae-hyeon Hwasan wins 15 times
ERA ranking
1. Kim Won-ho Silla 1.96
2. Tinyeh Volcano 2.33
3. Choi Jung-hoon Hyeonseong 2.40
4. Seonghyeon Volcano 2.44
5. Swanson Charlotte 2.58
Strikeout ranking
1. Kim Won-ho Silla 213
2. Tainye Volcano 201
3. Swanson Charlotte 188
4. Kim Si-hyeon N V 183
5. The future of the long universe 171
Inning rankings
1. Tinye Volcano 201.1
2. Swanson Charlotte 189.2
3. Nick Hyunseong 187.2
4. Kim Won-ho Silla 184.1
5. Chae Jae-hyeon Volcano 183.2
-‘Pitcher 3 crowns’ Kim Won-ho VS ‘batting 3 crowns’ Ji Maeng-ho! A battle between high school classmates!
In the sports world, there is a term called ‘Triple Crown’. It is a term usually given to a player who wins three competitions held in one season, and there is also a term in the baseball world called ‘triple crown’. However, since baseball is a team sport and one league is played per season, the meaning is slightly different.
In the baseball world, the Triple Crown is given when a player sweeps three records in the record department. For batters, the records are batting average, home runs, and RBIs, and for pitchers, when they sweep the records for earned run average, most wins, and strikeouts.
And this year, there are two players who achieved the Triple Crown in pitchers and hitters. The player who achieved the pitcher triple crown was Kim Won-ho (Silla Triggers, 24), who stood as the best pitcher in the league with 18 wins, a 1.96 ERA, and 213 strikeouts. If it weren’t for the Asian Games…
The player who achieved the Triple Crown in the batting category is Ji Maeng-ho (AT Thunders, 24). Ji Maeng-ho, who has achieved the Triple Crown for four consecutive years since his debut in 2024, has a batting average of 0.381, 62 home runs, and 171 RBI this season. While recording, he once again proved why he is Ji Maeng-ho.
And the first round of the semi-playoffs takes place tomorrow. Two players competing for the position of league MVP clash. Shilla Triggers announced Kim Won-ho as the starter in the first game, and AT Thunders announced Diaz as the starter…
Meanwhile, the two players are classmates from the same high school and are famous close friends in the baseball world, having worked together to win various competitions in their third year. However, this is the first fall baseball match between these two people…
Won-ho Kim played an unofficial perfect game in 9 innings against the AT Thunders in 2024, and showed tremendous performance every fall, earning him the reputation of being the fall man…, Ji Maeng-ho recorded a career ratio of 0.636/0.798/1.855/2.653, 19 home runs, 39 stolen bases, 52 runs, and 44 RBI in this wild card game…
Baseball fans are paying close attention to see how the match between the two friends who represent the league on both sides, pitcher and hitter, will end.
┗Is the first game likely to be the key?
┗┗ㅇㅇ AT has good momentum, but Kim Won-ho also did well in the fall
┗Wonho Shin also had crazy records haha. This kid will definitely go to the majors
┗┗I still go to see scouts a lot
┗┗Sunghyun is in prime form this season, so is he expected to go to the majors?
┗It’s romantic for high school classmates to compete against each other to become the best haha
┗┗ㄹㅇㅋㅋ These two are classmates, but the differences are also crazy. A batsman and pitcher/with a silver spoon, an orphan and a dirt spoon/not interested in women, crazy about women.
┗┗Is it true that Kim Won-ho is not interested in women?
┗┗ㅇㅇ There’s nothing like a story about that guy, and all he sees is that he’s working out.
┗┗Is Kim Won-ho a golden spoon?
┗┗ㅇㅇ There must be a story on the team’s iTube about him driving a foreign car after joining the team and getting scolded by his seniors, right?
┗┗I graduated from Hanche High School and had a golden spoon. All my classmates knew.
-Silla’s victory in the first game is a sure thing, right?
┗ㅇㅇ First, Diaz, this bastard is so fucking anxious haha
┗ETTY’s strength is his batting lineup, so it doesn’t seem like it will work against Kim Won-ho? How are you going to stop the fall Kim Won-ho?
┗┗If Ji Maeng-ho hits two home runs, all he has to do is score 3–4 points.
-Kim Won-ho This kid is a powerful pitcher in the league
Seonghyeon, who is said to throw well, 〈〈 This guy is also a pitcher for the Hwasan Falcons. After all, he belongs to the club. However, the level of league power means that it has the power of one league or more. Just the level of league power. The fuck itself. If you want to match him, you have to be at least a major league team.
This is the beginning of real ‘pitching’.
┗ㄷㄷ ㅇㅅㅇㅎㅅ
┗ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
┗Then what are you doing? Ji Maeng-ho is a major league power.
┗┗Then… You lose?
┗┗’Win.’
┗┗Ah…
*
“Swing strike! Out!”
‘Did you just split? Does that bastard eat something good every fall? It seems like the angles have become sharper?’
As expected, Wonho’s pitch from the stand-by batting box looked pretty good. He pitched well in the Asian Games finals, but do you think he’s improved since then?
“I’m sorry, Meng Hao. “I should have gone out.”
“Hey, just by looking at it, the ball looks good.”
Sangju senior, who retired due to a strikeout, said he was sorry, but Wonho’s pitch was such that there was no need to feel sorry at all.
‘When did I grow up like that when I was crying and complaining about being dumped by Hyuna…’ .’
To be honest, even in high school, Wonho was a good pitcher who was selected as a regular for the youth national team in the first round, and he was evaluated as an immediate player in the first team, but even then, he was not the talent to dominate the league like he is now.
He probably worked hard to get to this point.
And you probably had my help during the process.
‘Huh? What kind of help did you give me?’
‘Yes? How many things have I done for Wonho? I took care of all the bullies that got attached to Wonho, but if he had dated a girl, would he have focused on baseball?’
It reminds me of the past days when I had to deal with the women who were clinging to Wonho. There was a time when we went to a club together, but Wonho wasn’t like this back then, so it was clear that my good deed was of great help.
Hehe, that’s right.’
Even Mr. Rossby acknowledged it.
Moreover, if Hyuna and Wonho had dated, Wonho would not have been able to handle Hyuna’s sexual desires and would have been sucked out of Hyuna’s vitality and dried up to death. No matter how I thought about it, I was Wonho’s benefactor.
The problem is, does he throw better than I think?
Of course, it was a happy thing to have a good friend. And I was still happy. When I was in high school, I was young and jealous of Wonho, but now I don’t have any of those feelings and I just applaud every time Wonho throws well.
However, today I couldn’t just be so purely happy. As you can see just by looking at the beginning of the first inning, Wonho’s pitching today was scary. Really, it made me think that I might get a perfect shot like I did a few years ago.
‘Of course I have to do it…’
Of course, I had to block their attacks well before that.
The pitcher selected as our team’s starter today is Diaz.
Diaz’s record this season was 8 wins, 9 losses, and an ERA of 3.89. In terms of earned run average, is he the worst among the five starters? However, he was not a completely scrap pitcher.
There were times when he went 7 or 8 innings without allowing a run, and he even recorded two shutouts this season.
In other words, the high point is high.
And the reason why the coach selected Diaz, who had high ups and downs but had high peaks, as the starter for this game was simple.
Today’s starting pitcher is Wonho, the best pitcher in the league. No matter who he played, he was bound to be at a disadvantage in the starting matchup, and in that case, he meant to aim for Diaz, who was worthy of at least one high score.
Diaz may not be able to pitch now, but he had experience in the major leagues, which meant that he was not inferior to Wonho in terms of high scores.
‘Please, throw well today too.’
It looked pretty good during practice pitching before the game, but the actual game was a different story, so I went into the bottom of the first inning while praying.
Ta-ah!
A cheerful sound was heard from the leadoff batter, and the ball headed toward the outfield.
‘Oh, fuck!’
As I looked around the outfield while swearing, center fielder Hwicheol was running like crazy trying to catch the ball. A perfect line drive… Just when he was thinking that he had at least a double, Hwicheol hit.
“Out!”
‘Wow, I almost got screwed.’
The leadoff hitter was hit by a line drive… I was also anxious. And that anxiety continued throughout the first episode.
To the second batter, Lee Eun-chong, he hit a line drive to right field,
“Out!”
Park Cheol-young, the third batter, hit a line drive toward me.
“Out!”
Diaz started the game with a variety of correct hits. Although it is a three-way retreat, it is an uneasy start. I was lucky enough to keep the first inning scoreless, but the outcome for a pitcher who gets hit like this was always obvious.
‘As expected, I have to score quickly.’
I quickly went to bat to relieve this anxiety. What Diaz needs now is a score that can stabilize him. It was important to calculate the score step by step, even if it was only 1 point.
‘It’s a splitter.’
‘Okay.’
And the first pitch Wonho chose was a splitter. First, I needed to see what kind of ball Wonho was throwing today at the plate, so I decided to watch the first pitch and wait for his pitch.
“Strike!”
The result is a strike into the low corner.
‘Sseuup, it’s probably going to be hard to have fun playing splitter today, right?’
Even if I hit a ball like this, there was no way I would get a good ball. Well, I don’t know if it comes to the middle, but I don’t think Wonho will throw that kind of ball from the second inning. No, even if Wonho pitched until the 15th inning today, I didn’t think he would throw that ball.
Starting from the eyes to the atmosphere it gives off. Of all the Wonhos I’ve seen so far, Wonho seemed the most serious today.
‘It’s a fastball.’
‘Okay. … Wait a minute, I just need to score 1 point, right?’
Wonho’s second ball was a fastball. As I was thinking about hitting this ball and making a home run, a thought flashed in my head.
Anyway, all I need now is 1 point…
It wasn’t the regular season, so there was no need to go through difficult times.
Tak.
“Uh?! 3, 3rd base!”
I laid down the bat according to the trajectory of the fastball and ran toward first base. The first baseman is seen holding out his mitt in a hurry. Then stretch your feet toward the base.
“Safe!”
I guess they never thought I would get on base with a bunt starting in the second inning. The third baseman was far away, and that slight difference led to a bunt hit.
‘Great, this is it.’
Anyway, whether you hit a home run or get on base and steal a base, you get the same 1 point. There was no reason to take pride in wanting to hit a home run in fall baseball. What’s important is the team’s victory.
“Ugh.”
I make eye contact with Wonho, who is spitting while clearing the mound. The guy’s eyes look quite annoyed. And his inner thoughts can be read. It was clear that he was shaking right now.
‘Well, it’s like giving one point for free, so it’s worth shaking up. But what can I do, Wonho? I want to win one more championship before going to the majors.’
You may think it’s shameful, but baseball is war. There was no reason not to use the weapons I had. Rather, not using my weapon was showing respect to Wonho, and that was even more disrespectful to Wonho.
Today, Wonho was the most on fire I’ve ever seen, so I had to do the best I could.
‘Then Mr. Rossby. Let’s run.’
I put my foot in the door once again to do my best.