There is one hour left before the start of the first match of the Pacific League Championship Series' final round. When the SoftBank Team submitted the official starting player list to the chief umpire and the Rakuten side, Lin Guanglai's na was prominently listed as the starting pitcher.
If such an arrangent was still within Rakuten Team's expectations, then when Lin Guanglai's na appeared again on the batting lineup, even Hoshino Senichi, who was full of confidence before the match, was a bit stunned.
But he quickly adjusted his emotions—looking at the slightly restless bench behind him, Hoshino Senichi sternly reprimanded: "Alright, stop making noise, what kind of behavior is this—does this look like you're ready for a match?"
Being a decisive presence on this team, as soon as Hoshino Senichi spoke, the Rakuten players quieted down; turning to the gathered players, Hoshino Senichi thought for a mont and continued:
"We have analyzed the opponent's lineup many tis over the past few days in match etings, now it's just a small variable, what's there to panic about? Rember the phrase I've been telling you all these days—"
"As the Pacific League champions, you should have this awareness—no matter who the opponent is, we should believe that we are the stronger side; and before absolute strength, any trick of the opponent is just a struggle of a caged beast, nothing more."
"As long as we do what we are supposed to do, the final result will definitely be what we want!"
At this point, Hoshino Senichi glanced at Tanaka Masahiro, who was sitting at the front of the bench, and couldn't help but reveal a slight smile—this was the source of his infinite confidence.
Tanaka Masahiro did not respond to his manager's gaze; instead, his attention was on the SoftBank players entering the field from the opposite side.
For Tanaka Masahiro, this past season was undoubtedly a perfect harvest year:
In terms of personal accolades, he achieved a record of 24 wins and 0 defeats, creating a new unprecedented record in Nippon Professional Baseball, ending all suspense early for this year's Eiji Sawamura Award and Pacific League MVP, even overshadowing the super rookie Lin Guanglai who pitched a "phantom four crowns season";
In terms of team honors, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, a new team established for less than ten years, climbed from the bottom of the league to today's victory, and was making great strides towards becoming Japan's Number One—in this process, Tanaka Masahiro contributed greatly.
However, in this remarkable perfect season, there were so imperfect spots: this season he started 27 gas, bringing 24 victories to the team; in the remaining 3 gas that didn't affect his record, Rakuten Team won 2 of them.
And the only ga they couldn't win was at the start of the season between Rakuten and SoftBank (details in chapters 037-039)—in that ga, he pitched seven innings and allowed 3 runs, offering a quality performance, but by his own standards, it was unsatisfactory.
After that matchup, although SoftBank and Rakuten faced each other many more tis, Tanaka Masahiro never started in those gas again; this ans today's ga marks nearly half a year since his last showdown against the SoftBank Team.
Among all the SoftBank Team mbers, the tall Lin Guanglai stood out—Tanaka Masahiro was ready to show this young man what playoff intensity really ans!
The ga began on ti, and Miyagi Stadium was fully packed: at this historic mont of Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles' first Pacific League Championship Series final, almost the entire Miyagi Prefecture and even the Tohoku Region's fans turned out in full force, more than 25,000 local fans in support jerseys turned this relatively small open-air stadium into a sea of red—amidst this fiery sea, the SoftBank supporters on their away expedition seed like a small boat in the vast ocean, looking as if they might be swallowed by the waves at any mont.
"Ladies and gentlen, let us give a warm welco and applause to our starting pitcher today—"
"Tanaka—Masahiro—!!!"
With the powerful and penetrating shout from the ho team's MC, the entire Miyagi Stadium's stands erupted into chaos as ho fans waved their support items, cheering and applauding their ace slowly walking to the pitcher's mound.
At the sa ti, the personal support song for Tanaka Masahiro played over the stadium's speakers—the mont the lody started, in the SoftBank dugout, Lin Guanglai slightly raised an eyebrow, a subtle smile appearing on his face.
Being the most famous idol fan in professional baseball, Tanaka Masahiro typically used the songs from his favorite female idol group Peach-colored Lucky Grass Z during official matches; however, for the championship series, he unexpectedly chose another song which coincidentally had significant aning for Lin Guanglai as well—
"Ato Hitotsu," sung by the recently disbanded male band FUNKY MONKEY BABYS, a song for which Tanaka Masahiro once graced the album cover and appeared in the MV; another na for this song is the 2010 Sumr Koshien the song.
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