Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 22

22. 2 Innings Plus

A very familiar name, sitting fourth in the 2017 regular season standings.

“…Wow.”

Wonha Challengers.

When was the last time Wonha made it to the post-season…?

2008, when I joined the team. Before that, 2005. The Wonha Challengers dominated the regular season, clinching the championship early.

In the Korean Series [the championship series of the KBO League], held about a month after the regular season ended, they crushed their opponents 4-0, achieving a complete victory.

Was that it?

The following season, 2006, Wonha seemed to have sold off their previous season’s prowess, finishing dead last in the league.

Absolutely last.

With almost the same members as the championship-winning team of ’05, they somehow managed to ruin the entire team. The manager at the time, with about two years left on his contract, was promptly dismissed.

Perhaps thanks to that, Wonha was given the privilege of choosing first in the first draft held after the season.

There were many outstanding players from across the country. Some were great hitters, others excellent defenders, catchers, outfielders, and so on.

Judging that last year’s rapid decline was due to the shared underperformance of starters, relievers, and closers, they nominated me, the most valuable among the pitchers.

A contract worth 1 billion KRW [Korean Won]!

There seemed to be a slight overpayment, considering that the Majors were also interested.

I didn’t particularly want to go, partly because of communication issues and military service, but mostly because I didn’t think I would make it in the Majors. Thanks to that misjudgment, I received a huge contract and joined Wonha.

However, my performance after joining was… dismal.

In the nine years excluding this year, Wonha’s only post-season appearance was in 2011, barely making it as the fourth-place team, only to be eliminated in the semi-playoffs with a series record of 3-0. A clean sweep.

Ah, of course, I was excluded from the roster at that time and was doing personal training.

There’s still a bit of the season left, but if we maintain this, we’ll be stepping onto the post-season stage for the first time in six years.

The word ‘scenario’ has started to appear in articles from various media outlets. The top three teams are almost confirmed, so they didn’t receive much attention.

The real fun is the fight for fourth place.

With about a month left until the end of the season, the fourth-place Wonha Challengers have 54 wins, 1 draw, and 54 losses, a .500 record. The fifth-place Visco Runners are just half a game behind us with 53 wins, 1 draw, and 54 losses. The sixth-place Sungwoon Hawks are three games behind us with 51 wins and 57 losses.

At first, it was just a case of ‘it would be nice to go up, but if not, oh well,’ but once we got within reach, the fans started to go wild, and their shouts were not something we could simply ignore.

This is going to be bad.

I felt instinctively that something big would happen if we fell.

However, there wasn’t really anything we could do. We just had to put everything into each game every day, go home, and crash.

Let’s just endure for another month. If we make it to the top four, even if we get swept there, it will be satisfying.

“We’re screwed.”

In that sense, today, Friday, the two consecutive losses in the away series against the Sangsoo Tigers were quite painful. It was such a helpless defeat that it was impossible for me to even get on the mound and try to make a difference.

What’s fortunate, or so it seems? Visco and Sungwoon each only managed 1 win and 1 loss.

If we had both lost and they had both won, it would have been quite a sight. But let’s be relieved that the 5th place team has at least temporarily hit the brakes.

* * *

We lost. 59 wins, 1 draw, 59 losses and 59 wins, 1 draw, 60 losses. Fifth place, half a game behind. We, Wonha, have 7 games left. Visco, in fourth place, has 8 games left.

Sungwoon, with 55 wins and 62 losses, has already retired [eliminated from playoff contention]. The fight for fourth place has been narrowed down to a two-way battle between Visco and us, Wonha.

If we had won today, we would have been in fourth place, half a game ahead.

I came on in the 8th inning with a two-run lead and cleanly struck out the three batters. But Lee Hyo-jae, who I trusted, got hit with a walk-off three-run home run, and the game ended just like that.

[It’s okay! You can do it!]

I received a message from Min-young on the subway on my way home. The fact that there was someone directly cheering me on made me smile for no reason.

I replied with something like, ‘Thank you for your support, I’ll definitely win tomorrow,’ and put my phone back in my pocket. Just then, the train arrived at my station. I pushed through the unusually crowded train and got off.

Ah, I really need to buy a car soon.

I tightened my bag once more and hurried home. Tomorrow is a rare day off. I need to go and rest quickly.

* * *

It’s past mid-September and we’re slowly approaching the end. It’s the time when the rankings of each team should be taking shape, but not for us, Wonha.

The rankings of Visco and us were changing every day, going back and forth.

As of now, Visco has 1 game left, and we have 2 games left. The league standings are 62 wins, 2 draws, and 61 losses for Visco in 5th place. 62 wins, 2 draws, and 60 losses for us in 4th place.

It’s become interesting. We have a two-game series against the Dongsung Hornets, who have already advanced to the playoffs as the 2nd place team in the league, and Visco has their last game against the Sangsoo Tigers, who secured the Korean Series as the 1st place team in the league even earlier.

We just need to win once. Just once.

If we can somehow get 63 wins, we will secure 4th place because we are ahead in the head-to-head record.

“…Is this real?”

However, today’s starting pitcher for the Dongsung Hornets is Lee Hyun-jin. Does this bastard have no sense? He only allowed three scattered hits through the 8th inning and didn’t allow us a single point.

Leading by 3 points, he even went to the mound in the 9th inning, making our motivation dig a very deep hole.

151km [kilometers per hour].

The first pitch of the bottom of the 9th inning, and the 97th pitch of today’s game, was still exceeding 150km. The term ‘national team’s first starter’ is no joke. He didn’t seem to be sweating or particularly struggling.

Gyu-hak, who came up as the lead batter, seemed surprised when such a ball came inside from the first pitch.

After a swing and a miss on a slider that went outside, he took a called strike on a two-seamer that went from the outside ball to the outside zone.

Hoon, the 9th batter, managed to hold on until the 6th pitch, but the weakly cut ball flowed into the infield. The third baseman caught it and threw it easily to first base, and soon it was 2 outs.

The next batters each created a runner on first and third with two outs thanks to a walk and a lucky Texas hit [a bloop hit that falls between the infield and outfield], but the next batter was helplessly out on the first pitch with a ground ball to the pitcher, and we had to watch Hyun-jin’s shutout victory.

1 loss. This one loss, coming near the end of the league, was so painful.

“They won?”

Moreover, the victory of our rival team. Visco secured the 63-win mark and finished the season, while our team fell to 5th place in the league with 62 wins.

Win, we just need to win. We just need to win. We just need to win. Whew.

We just need to win.

“…Hyuk-joon.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s win tomorrow.”

“…Yes.”

Hyuk-joon, who is scheduled to start tomorrow, passed by. A short conversation filled with determination took place.

Let’s win.

I want to go to the post-season, even if we get swept. I want to go up and breathe higher air.

To do that, I need to go home and rest quickly.

I struggled to take off my heavy feet. I slung my bag over my shoulder and left the stadium.

Let’s win. We’ll win tomorrow.

* * *

In the end, we’ve come to the final game. The rankings of the other six teams, excluding 4th and 5th place, have all been decided. All that’s left is our Wonha and the Visco Runners, who are battling for 4th.

However, one team finished the season with 63 wins, 2 draws, and 61 losses, while the other is one win short of that.

We just need to win.

I kept chanting and chanting like a magic spell.

The only game taking place in stadiums across the country today is the game between the Dongsung Hornets and the Wonha Challengers at Jamsil Stadium.

Today’s game is exactly the kind of valuable game where you can only confirm which team will be decided for 4th place. I don’t know who set up this match right before the season, but it’s set up in a very interesting way.

There’s no need to calculate scenarios. We just need to win. Don’t think about the ranking battle, just focus on winning.

The manager said this at the pre-game meeting. Fortunately, today’s starter is our ace, Hyuk-joon. If the lineup can step up a little, we can win.

Dongsung’s starting pitcher is the team’s third starter. We are naturally ahead in the matchup. We have to win.

But was he burdened? Hyuk-joon didn’t allow any hits through the 5th inning, but he gave up six walks. Even so, he often induced double plays, and his pitch count was around 80 through the 5th inning.

However, our team’s lineup was even worse. Whether they were burdened even more than Hyuk-joon, they couldn’t get a single runner on first base through the 5th inning. Perfect.

Because of the unfavorable count battle, the pitch count is a little higher than Hyuk-joon’s at around 90, but looking at the game itself, we seemed to be falling behind a bit.

The 5th inning attack ended and it was cleaning time [mid-game break]. Sung-hoon, the team’s captain, called everyone together. There wasn’t much to say. If you compress the short speech of about 2 minutes into a few words, it would be ‘take off the burden’.

When I think about it back in my seat, it might be useless, but at the pro level, this is actually bigger.

Turn your waist more when hitting? Keep your center low when defending? Your shoulder doesn’t come over when pitching?

Even more useless. Just giving mental stability makes the waist that wasn’t turning, the center that was high, and the shoulder that wasn’t coming over, come over.

Baseball is a mental game.

This was a story that was fully possible for ‘pros’ who had reached the completion stage physically and mechanically. It had to be. If not, you have to take off the pro title.

Whether it was because he was energized by the captain’s short encouragement, Hyuk-joon began to find stability in his control in the top of the 6th inning. He couldn’t strike out as usual.

The pitches that were forcibly stuffed in became strong hits and returned to the ground, but the fielders who showed concentration ran hard and caught them. They threw and caught again.

Three outs.

After chasing down and catching a hit that bounced off the fence on a bounce, Hyuk-joon cheered louder than usual at Sung-hyun’s throw that caught the batter-runner at 2nd base, clenched his fist tightly, and came down from the mound. At this time, the pitch count was 92.

The attack regained some vitality.

The lineup, which had been helplessly producing only strikeouts or ground balls, started with a walk from the 7th batter in the bottom of the 6th inning and even produced a hit. However, they just couldn’t score.

Wow―

Kya-ha-hat!

A small commotion occurs on the visiting team’s side. To be more specific, it only happened among the groups wearing Visco jerseys, not Dongsung uniforms, who are competing with us for 4th place.

If we lose, we’re 5th. If we win, they’re 5th.

I understand. However, I didn’t like the fact that they were doing that even here. Even more so because I was the person involved.

Whether it’s because he’s starting to feel the strain, Hyuk-joon’s back, taking a long, deep breath as he heads to the mound, looked broader today.

0 to 0. Top of the 7th inning defense. After catching the lead batter with a ground ball to the third baseman, a walk and a hit created runners on first and second with one out. Then a ground ball to first base came out, but only the batter-runner was caught, making it 2 outs with runners on 2nd and 3rd.

Thwack―

Whack!

“Argh……!”

“Time, time!”

The ball went towards Hyuk-joon. Not only did it go towards him, but it hit his shin. The ball didn’t bounce far and fell right in front of Hyuk-joon.

Even in that situation, he grabs the ball and tries to throw it to first base, but he stops as he is told to stop. Then he grabs his right shin and collapses.

The umpire immediately called time and stopped the game, and several key figures from our team also ran out to the mound.

The pitching coach was the first to run over and check on Hyuk-joon’s condition, and the team trainer followed right behind him.

After exchanging a few words, the pitching coach crossed his arms and signaled to the dugout that it seemed difficult for him to pitch any further.

Our manager’s expression didn’t show any particular change when he saw that signal. He just said indifferently,

“Han-wool.”

“Yes.”

“Can you do 2 innings plus?”

He called me. I glanced at the mound and the field and answered.

“…Yes.”