Chapter 785 – Episode 772. Natural Enemy.
-Judge’s multi-home run explosion! Yankees win 11:2!
… Thanks to starter Singer’s 7 scoreless innings and Judge’s 2 home runs, the Yankees won 2 games in a row, defeating the Minnesota Twins 11:2. … On this day, the Yankees hit 6 home runs, including 2 home runs by Judge and Ohapee, and 1 home run by Stanton and Vientos…
┗Jersey is Jersey haha
┗It seems like Ohhapi is slowly coming back to life too?
┗The Yankees are starting haha
-Judge hit multiple home runs two days in a row! Yankees win 7:1!
… The Yankees won three games in a row thanks to Judge’s multiple home runs. Judge hit the 30-homer mark with a home run that day and narrowed the gap with home run leader Ji Maeng-ho to 11. … Gerrit Cole, the starter on this day, allowed 1 run in 6 innings and reached the 11th win level, the same as Alcantara, the season’s NL leader in wins… Meanwhile, Stanton also hit a home run for the second day in a row, hitting his 17th home run of the season…
┗Yankees batting lineup sucks haha
┗┗Then what are you going to do? If you go to the playoffs anyway, you’ll be screwed haha
┗┗Is it really different this year? The 5th starter is also coming back cleanly haha Honestly, if it wasn’t for Cole’s injury last year, Walsh would have been out of the picture haha
┗┗That injury is because of fierce tigers haha
┗First of all, the Yankees are dominant in the league haha
-Korea-Japan home run kings face off! Ji Maeng-ho’s victory!
… Meanwhile, while Murakami was underperforming, Ji Maeng-ho had a good performance, including the final home run in the first game…
┗It was Murakami Goroshi who put them together in the first place haha
-No matter what, you can’t stop them!
Now that the average number of games played by each team in the major league has passed 70, the Yankees’ batting lineup is very hot. Currently, the Major League’s average batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage are 0.257/0.330/0.420, while the New York Yankees’ average batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage are 0.286/0.377/0.569, recording batting performance that is far above the average…
At the center of it all, we cannot leave out Ji Maeng-ho, who was recruited this season. Ji Maeng-ho…
However, thanks to the performance of Judge and Soto, who, excluding Ji Maeng-ho, are both recording an OPS of 1.1 or higher, and Stanton, who has made a comeback this season, hitting 17 home runs and recording an OPS of 0.872…
The total number of home runs the Yankees are currently recording is 175, which is 43 ahead of the 132 recorded by the LA Dodgers, the second-place team in home runs. This difference is enough to maintain first place even if Ji Maeng-ho’s 41 home runs are excluded…
The Yankees’ current home run rankings are Ji Maeng-ho (41), Judge (30), Soto (23), Stanton (17), Ohape (14), Hall (13), Vientos (12), Volpi (11), and Kelnick. (9), followed by Verdugo (4), and except Kelnick and Verdugo, who have appeared alternately depending on their condition recently, all have exceeded 10 home runs…
… Thanks to this hard-hitting line, the New York Yankees are currently in first place in the major leagues with a record of 52 wins and 17 losses and a winning percentage of 0.754.
┗The Yankees are definitely doing well
┗No. 1 in home runs even without a fierce defender?
┗┗Oh, Judge is 2nd in all major league home runs, and Soto is 5th. Stanton is also 8th in the AL
┗┗The batting lineup is definitely messed up haha
┗Wengmagkkk voodoo legend kkk
┗┗ㅋㅋㅋ Looks like I’m going to be screwed againㅋㅋㅋ
-The Yankees face off against the Pittsburgh Pirates!
… The New York Yankees will play against the Pittsburgh Pirates. … This series is expected to feature both Cortes and Skins, the one-two punch that currently leads the Pittsburgh Pirates to second place in the district…
Cortes has currently appeared in 15 games and recorded 8 wins and 4 losses with an ERA of 2.16 over 91.2 innings, ranking 2nd in the NL in ERA, 6th in innings pitched, 4th in strikeouts, and 3rd in most wins…
Skins, who missed about a month due to an injury earlier this season, is 1-2 with a 3.28 ERA in 49.1 innings in 11 games, but last season appeared in 31 games and had a 2.89 ERA in 177.1 innings. He recorded 14 wins, 6 losses, and 237 strikeouts, ranking 7th in the NL in ERA and 3rd in strikeouts, a performance worthy of a team’s ace…
┗So who wins? The Yankees are good at dividends?
┗┗Do you think it would be okay to walk Fitz? In the starting matchup, Pittsburgh wins.
┗┗But since Pitts’ batting lineup is poor, it looks like he won’t be able to beat the Yankees’ starting pitcher. The second game is against the Rodon Skins, so let’s bet on Pitts only then and play the Yankees for the rest.
*
After hitting a home run in the first game against Minnesota, the arrogant look in the eyes of the Japanese guy who tried to form a rivalry with me became obedient. What can I say? Did he not only become obedient but also look resigned?
It was a little funny to see him on fire and resigned to himself, but it was a little pitiful that he went 0-for-8 in the remaining two games because he was mentally exhausted.
And regardless of that, the series against Minnesota went off without a hitch after that.
No, is it really a big deal if Judge hits multiple home runs for two days in a row and reaches the 30-home run mark?
“Ji. Please wait. My batting skills are slowly improving now.”
“Ah… Yes.”
Judge seemed to be overflowing with confidence as he entered the ‘pushing’ period, which is a basic skill that a home run hitter must have. Still, there was still a gap of more than 10 home runs, so there was still quite a bit left to catch up, but there were a lot of intentional walks and the number of walks was increasing, so it was true that I was worried that this gap would narrow as the season went on.
Moreover, today’s starter is Nestor, the current Pittsburgh ace.
Cortes was a player who had won 10 games for four consecutive years before this season, and until a few weeks ago, he had a lower ERA than Ohtani, so he was always the first player I saw among all major league pitchers when I went to the website to look at my records.
Of course, he has been sluggish in the last two games, allowing 4 runs in 5 innings and 3 runs in 6 innings, but is he a player who is showing pretty good from this season?
In fact, even though he was hitting 1 point, I was confident I could hit well. In reality, he achieved decent results while facing the best pitchers in the major leagues, such as McClanahan and Trilling. In addition, Cortes is a player who is not considered to be that good with the ball compared to his performance.
However, I was a little scared of Cortes, who was evaluated as having slightly less weight than the aces of each team.
Why?
Because the timing was so wrong!
In the 2026 WBC, I faced Cortés once, and at first I laughed at the amateur-like appearance of a guy with inconsistent pitching form, but the game ended without him even touching the ball due to his fluctuating and shitty pitching form. I did it.
But the terrifying thing about this guy was that the aftereffects lasted for a long time. Since I know the types of pitches pitchers throw, I have a batting style that learns with my body the velocity and angle that the opposing pitchers throw, and then releases the bat at that timing. However, when I met him, the timing was all off, so the aftereffects were a bit severe.
Among experts, there were some who evaluated me as a hitter who relied on strength, but in fact, for me, who entered every pitcher’s timing into my body and hit like a sophisticated machine, such an error was quite fatal.
Well, it is true to some extent that when something goes wrong, it can be overcome by force.
‘No, but honestly, don’t all batters have that level of power? Even Judge and Stanton just use force if the timing isn’t right.’
Anyway, luckily it was only about two days? I had time to rest, and Cole, who was the starting pitcher for the next game, was my opponent at the Olympics, so I was able to improve my batting skills with Mr. Rossby’s help all day before the game, but now, after meeting Cortes, I have no time to rest, and I am a new pitcher. Having to deal with them was also a problem.
Of course, it might not be that difficult this time. Unlike that game, this time Mr. Rossby was going to tell us the type of pitch.
But still, I couldn’t help but feel worried. Cortes is a pitcher who throws the ball like crazy. The pitching form changed every time the ball was thrown, and as the angle of the breaking ball was not constant, it could have been more difficult.
‘Tsk, I’m nervous.’
‘No, let Mr. Rossby deal with you. That bastard really is a huge bastard, isn’t he?’
Mr. Rossby, who has never experienced it in person, will never know this feeling.
‘Fuck… Should I just say I’m taking the day off today? If Mattingly wants to take a break, he said to let him know at any time…’
Hehe, I can’t believe a gorilla cub is worried like this. Today, just trust in this body. Unlike before, I’ll let him throw the ball over the fence.’
‘Yes, but since there is Mr. Rossby…’ .’
So, I prepared for the match against Chae Cortes with the expectation of humiliating the guy who humiliated me at the WBC…,
“Strike out!”
‘You can’t even hit that?’
‘No, fuck. Suddenly, he takes his hand out of his glove and starts wiggling his wrist. How can he hold back from doing that? Even Mr. Rossby laughed!’
‘… First, see you next time at bat. Anyway, if there is a runner, that is a balk.’
… In his first at-bat, the guy’s soft punch made me laugh, and his batting form fell apart.
And the second at bat.
This time he started shaking his legs,
Perfect!
“Ah! Fuck, really!”
After the guy’s first twitch, I was slightly caught off guard and was unable to get the timing right when he threw the ball at almost no-stride at 153 km/h and ended up with an infield fly.
‘Fuck, this is a foul…’
And I couldn’t help but realize. It is impossible to hit this baby ball unless it is a dog. The good news, though, was that he wasn’t so embarrassed because he was currently the pitcher with the second-best performance in the National League after Ohtani.
Judge, who hit multiple home runs for two days in a row, was also closely tied to Cortes.
After that, in his third at-bat, he hit a ground ball to the shortstop due to a slider that curved at a completely different angle than the slider he had thrown so far. Fortunately, the opposing defense chose second base first, went to first base, stole base, and came home. In the end, the game against him ended with no hits in three at-bats, and the timing of his batting was broken, and the game ended with a bad hit for the changed pitcher.
Fortunately, Gilbert held on well and the game ended in victory as Pittsburgh’s bullpens were wiped out after Cortes went down, but I couldn’t help but feel the humiliation I felt when facing the WBC guy again.
‘After… Since I only meet the NL team once anyway… But from now on, I’ll have to rest the day that bastard comes out.’
‘Tsk, even a pitcher like that can’t shake it off. When you become weak.’
‘No, it really doesn’t make sense! That bastard! It’s just a natural disaster!’
It was clear to me that if Mr. Rossby had faced Cortes, he would have rushed to the mound as soon as the guy started talking shit on the mound. Then he would have thrown the ball normally…
‘Hmm… Next time we meet, will I give it a shot too? … No, it’s done. Well, if you don’t throw a bean ball and just beat him up because he can’t hit it, you’re no different from Mr. Rossby. You can’t be that kind of person. … Anyway, I’m too kind, so I’m in trouble.’
‘What are those eyes?’
‘… It’s nothing.’
‘… ‘The look in your eyes is irreverent?’
‘It’s nothing!’
‘How dare you get angry at this body when you can’t control it? This damn bastard… ! … ! … ! … … !’
So, I ended the day with Mr. Rossby’s double insults going in one ear and out the other, thinking not to be like Mr. Rossby and vowing to get out of the game the next time Cortés comes out.