Chapter 829 – Episode 815. Best Player. (2)

Perfect!

‘That’s right, I didn’t expect it.’

A weak hitting sound was heard from the bat Verdugo swung, but it was not disappointing at all. Verdugo and Kelnick, who alternate as center fielders, were both poor hitters with trash records.

‘… ‘Huh?’

While I was cursing Verdugo in my mind, Verdugo’s batted ball rolled to a position where the infielder could not catch it. The shortstop rushed to catch the ball, but it barely grazed his glove, leaving the situation at first base.

‘Yes, it is better for you to go out like that.’

To be honest, I couldn’t evaluate who was better, Verdugo or Kelnick, as they both recorded an OPS in the low 0.7 range, but I think Verdugo was better because Verdugo, who had a 2 percent higher on-base percentage, had times when he made lucky hits like this. It costs.

And now at bat, Volpi is number 9.

I went to bat as a standby, praying that Volpi would also get on base.

Perfect!

This time, the batted ball floats high in the infield.

‘After all, good luck can’t happen twice.’

But my heart is the Myeonggyeongjisu itself. On the contrary, I would have been disappointed if Ohtani had successive hits against Verdugo and Volpi.

‘Then, let’s go. Mr. Rossby.’

It was a little disappointing that I only saw a cutter in his first at-bat, but I had already become familiar with today’s pitch by watching him pitch from the dugout and standby at-bat. He felt confident that he would be able to get the timing right with just a few more looks.

‘It’s a fastball.’

‘Okay.’

Mr. Rossby’s words were succinct because, as he watched him face other hitters, he knew that the ball rarely came the way the catcher wanted it to.

‘Today’s fastball was near 100 mph, right? Shall we just taste it first?’

However, the reason he is leading the game today without allowing any runs is because of his fastball, which averages close to 100 mph. Seeing as he gave up his control and increased his velocity, it seemed like Ohtani also considered this game quite important.

And the guy’s fastball coming in. The trajectory of the ball when it leaves the hand seems to be heading towards the strike zone.

For a 100 mph ball, the moment I made that decision, I had to swing the bat right away to get even close to the ball, so I swung the bat right away after making that decision.

Ta – Aak!

A refreshing sound from the bat… And the batted ball curves more and more to the left. Unfortunately, the batted ball misses the pole and falls.

‘Oh, maybe it was a bit fast?’

For a moment, I felt regretful because I felt like I swung at a slightly early timing, but I also felt like I could easily pass the fastball if it came again.

‘It’s a splitter.’

He must have sensed that my current condition was not normal, so he immediately changed course to a change ball.

‘Okay.’

“Ball.”

‘A trajectory like this? Then, it will be in the zone above the chest.’

And while watching his splitter, I calculate at what timing it needs to break to get into the zone.

Splitter had already learned enough to deal with Wonho by continuously dealing with him, so as long as his velocity was not over 150, he could swing the bat when he thought he was in the zone, and he would be able to get over the fence.

The problem now is the cutter, slider, and sweeper, which tease batters with their lateral movement. Although these balls were similar, they had slightly different trajectories and velocity, so it felt difficult to play against them.

‘Well, there’s no need to touch the tricky ball. Okay, then I should aim for fastballs, curveballs, and splitters.’

Even though I know what kind of ball he’s throwing, there’s no reason to hit a difficult ball, so I set my batting stance and wait for the guy’s ball.

‘It’s a sweeper.’

‘Okay.’

“Ball.”

‘Wow, the bending angle is definitely good.’

The sweeper filters,

‘It’s a slider.’

“Strike!”

The slider also filters. Before I knew it, it was two strikes, two balls, but I wasn’t particularly scared because I had seen all of his pitches.

‘If it’s a slider type, cut it and hit the rest.’

‘It’s a splitter.’

‘Oh, is this a crystal ball splitter? Obviously, a splitter is best for getting the bat out with two strikes. … Low!’

“Ball.”

After that, he picked off the splitter he threw to end the at-bat, and before we knew it, the situation was at full count.

‘It’s a fastball.’

‘As expected, it’s a fastball here.’

In a full count situation, the ball he chose was a fastball, like any other fastball pitcher. In a full count situation, batters had to prepare to swing the bat for every ball, so it is obvious, but it is the most effective ball.

And the faster the fastball thrown in a full count situation, the more fatal it is to batters who have to consider all pitches, so he chose that ball.

Of course, it didn’t really work for me.

If you knew the fastball was coming anyway, there was no need to be late.

Ohtani lifts his leg high, not paying attention to the runner on first base. It seemed like his determination to get me out with the best pitch, regardless of whether he gave up a stolen base or not, was conveyed to me. Then his arm swings like a whip and the ball leaves his hand.

‘… ‘High!’

From experience, if the trajectory is this high, position it high on the body! Even if the location was wrong, I could have made a cut as long as it didn’t deviate too much from my expectations, so I trusted myself and hit the bat hard.

Ta – Aak!

And unlike the first pitch, which was headed toward the pole, this time the ball flies toward left center. This is a home run that is nothing to see.

I calmly threw the bat and ran slowly toward first base, as if something had naturally happened. When I took a quick look at Ohtani’s expression, his expression was quite stiff, unlike the way he smiled after hitting a home run against me in the All-Star Game.

‘It finally suits me.’

And that facial expression was quite fitting for that of a pitcher who hit a home run.

‘Okay. A pitcher who hits a home run must have his face set in defeat. This is baseball done right. Wasn’t it too cheesy in the All-Star Game?’

Perhaps, the next time we meet, he will make that kind of expression in front of me.

Until a few years ago, it was surprising to see Otani make this kind of expression in front of me, but now it wasn’t so surprising. Besides Ohtani, some of the best pitchers in the major leagues gave me that look.

In fact, it felt like Trilling, McClanahan, or Alcantara were more difficult as pitchers than Ohtani.

Oh, Cortes was a pitcher I couldn’t beat, so of course it was out of the question.

“Ji. It was the best shot.”

“Well, I have to hit it. “I ask that others also work hard.”

The feeling of returning to the dugout and secretly bragging to my teammates as if I had done what I was supposed to do was the best feeling.

But still, Otani was Otani.

“Out!”

“Out!”

Despite the upset, he finished the inning by calling out Judge and Soto, as he is one of the top five players in the major league.

After that, the game was pretty tight. My third at-bat came in the 5th inning, but unfortunately, I couldn’t give him another home run as the ball I was trying to cut with a full count ended up inside the line.

Singer allowed 1 run in 5 innings, and Ohtani allowed 2 runs in 5 innings, and no more points were given, and the score remained 2:1 at the end of the 5th inning.

But in the top of the 6th inning,

“Oh!”

“First base! “First base!”

“Ah…”

As Volpi was unable to handle ordinary batted balls, the atmosphere of the game began to flow strangely.

‘Under… Fuck… Why now…’

In fact, it wasn’t unusual for a shortstop to make an error. Because the shortstop’s defense is more difficult than that of any other fielder. I knew that too, so even when Volpi made mistakes, I never made a big deal out of it.

However, the next batter is Ohtani.

When this mistake occurred before Ohtani’s turn at bat, a strong feeling ran down my spine.

… And, as always, the strong feeling in baseball boasted a hit rate of almost 100%.

Ta – Aak!

‘Fuck, I knew it would be like this.’

Even after Otani’s batted ball passes over me, it flies for a long time and lands in the outfield seats. And he is the guy who slowly runs past me.

‘… I’m pissed.’

Singer couldn’t come to his senses after that and took a hit from Smith, but fortunately Tatis and Seungcheol weren’t in good condition today, so they didn’t allow any additional runs.

However, I could feel that the atmosphere of the game had changed with his home run.

The guy who succeeded in turning things around blocked Soto and Stanton, our main batting line leading to the hole, with a three-way strike, and that atmosphere became a reality.

Singer kept the score scoreless until the top of the 7th inning, but Ohtani also came up in the bottom of the 7th inning, making the score 3:2.

In the top of the 8th inning, Camacho, our best card here, came on the mound and blocked the Dodgers’ attack, but unfortunately we were unable to turn the score around.

‘… Ah, I lost. … Fuck.’

And only then did I clearly understand why he was called the best player.

Ohtani was neither the best hitter with the best batting performance nor the best pitcher with the best pitching performance in the major leagues.

However, Ohtani was a player who recorded close to the best results in both.

Although I am currently recording records that no one can match in the major leagues, he was becoming a better player than me at least once or at most twice a week.

He wasn’t the best hitter or the best pitcher, but he was the best player in the major leagues.

A player who is like the pinnacle of baseball.

I felt like I finally understood why Mr. Rossby cursed Ruth so much.

Because this was unreasonable.

However, I had no intention of remaining a loser like Mr. Rossby. No, he shouldn’t have remained a loser.

For me and for Mr. Rossby.

‘I lost because I didn’t do well. If only Ohtani had hit two home runs, we would have won…’

And in order to do that, the only way was for me to do better. Today’s performance was pretty good, with 1 hit in 3 at-bats, 1 home run, and 1 walk, but it wasn’t good enough to beat Ohtani.

… Of course, it would have been better if Judge or Soto had played a little better.

‘But it’s a bit disgusting. After hitting Burrow for two games, he hit two home runs on the day of selection… Is it because I’m Japanese? I’m not some kind of ninja, damn it.’

‘Ruth was that kind of guy too. A cowardly guy who only hits home runs on Selection Day. Considering the spotlight he brought with that…’

Normally, I would have wanted to tackle Ruth, saying that it was natural for him to hit a home run on a day when he was the starter, since I knew that he had only been able to properly bat for two seasons, but I wasn’t in the mood because of the feeling of defeat that I felt for the first time in a long time.

‘It sure sucks. I’ll just do one. ‘I can’t do a single thing properly.’

‘… Huh? … Well, it sucks. As you probably knew, I also had better skills as a pure hitter. Because he was an idiot who had never hit .400. Tsk. If only the Yankees hadn’t cut down the right field fence for that kid…’

Still, this is a bit…

‘Well, I guess so.’

Mr. Rossby’s ridiculous words made me blurt out without realizing it. If Mr. Rossby had been able to do that, he would have been called the GOAT of baseball, not Babe Ruth.

To be honest, I knew who Ruth was until I met Mr. Rossby, but I had no idea who Mr. Rossby was.

‘It’s real. You gorilla bastard. Plus the bastard was surrounded by Musel, Lazzeri, Combs and Gehrig! It was a situation where all you had to do was hit a home run. If I had only focused on home runs in the hitting lineup like him, I could have easily surpassed 60 home runs.’

And as everyone knows, speaking longer means…

‘As expected, Mr. Rossby. You are amazing. But who are those people?’

‘Such a bastard… ! … ! … ! … !!!’

Still, the feeling of defeat that came after hearing Mr. Rossby’s abusive language slightly subsides.

‘Ah! Right! ‘My breast milk!’

However, I became a little sad again when I remembered that I couldn’t complete the quest Soyoung gave me.