The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 344

344. End of the Season (1)

Everyone knew the turning point of today’s game wasn’t the 8th inning, but right now. The Dodgers’ dugout felt it too. Their bullpen was buzzing with activity.

Louis Stone, originally their setup man, took the mound.

A young left-hander who could throw up to 101 mph.

A talent who could compete for the best closer in the league for the next 10 years.

-Clang!!!!

Of course, saying he was a talent who *could* compete for the best closer in the league for the next 10 years didn’t mean he was an impossible pitcher for me to target.

I pulled the cutter that was just barely digging into my body.

Left field fence.

The batted ball soared.

No need to watch.

It was a home run.

[The batted ball is going, going!! Will it go over!! Will it go over!!!]

[It’s gone!!]

[Left fielder Victor Gomez stretched, but it was just out of reach. A home run that barely clears the fence!! Choi Su-won’s 36th home run of the season. Choi Su-won seems to be in excellent hitting condition, following up yesterday’s game with another home run.]

[Bottom of the 7th. The score is now 12-11. The Yankees are really chasing the Dodgers with fierce momentum.]

[This game is all about momentum. For the past two days, the Yankees were overwhelmed by the Dodgers’ momentum. That’s how it seemed, anyway. But today’s game… the struggle of a rookie who just came up from the minors seems to have shaken up the Yankees players.]

[Now at the plate is number 3 hitter, Tyler Beat.]

The game continued.

Clearly, Louis Stone was a good pitcher. His pitches had the power to overwhelm opponents. But even so, he was currently a ‘setup man’ and not a ‘closer’ because he still lacked a few things necessary for a closer.

A lion’s heart.

An unwavering spirit.

A mind that doesn’t break, even when defeated.

My home run, pulling that first pitch, shook his confidence, and the cleanup hitters—Tyler Beat, Aaron Judge, and Mike Trout—following me were more than capable of targeting a shaken pitcher.

Bottom of the 7th.

12-14.

Finally, we succeeded in reversing the score.

The dugout, which had been a bit sluggish, began to regain its vitality.

Manager Jeff Clark didn’t change the pitcher.

Josh Clinton went to the mound in the 8th inning, as he was.

“Will this continue to work?”

“Well, the atmosphere isn’t bad yet. But since the batting order has already gone through once, it seems like they’re about to get used to it…”

Josh Clinton was lucky today.

But no matter how lucky you are, it doesn’t make sense to record scoreless innings for 3.2 innings in the major leagues with pure luck. It means he has at least the basic elements to capitalize on luck.

-Boom!!!

“Strike!!!!”

“Compared to Dylan Lee and Jace Whitaker, who pitched earlier, his pitching is definitely better. Besides, his command is working quite well.”

“Oh, and is it because he’s relieved now? I feel like the ball is getting better at the end.”

That’s how a season goes.

Someone gets hurt.

Someone falls into a slump.

Someone has a fluke season.

That way, everyone’s trajectories are different.

So, what should a winning team have?

The player who was bought expensively delivers at least the minimum value for the money.

The player who still has service time left shows the performance that can earn a big free agency [FA; the period when a player can sign with any team] contract soon.

Instead of all the players getting hurt at once, injuries should be managed so that the peak of power can be maintained intermittently, one or two at a time.

Yes, of course, that’s not enough to win the championship.

The proper performance and growth of the players who came up from the farm system [a team’s minor league affiliates, where young players develop].

Clearly, until today’s game, Josh Clinton was destined to go down to the minors in 14 days.

But this one game changed his fate.

-Clang!!!!

[A high fly ball!! Aaron Judge easily handles the batted ball and gets an infield fly out!! 8th inning!! The Dodgers’ attack ends with no score once again!!]

4. 2 innings scoreless.

It was truly an act of heroism in a time of chaos.

“Good job.”

“Uh…”

In fact, the number of pitches itself wasn’t that high, because very aggressive pitching led to good results. But Josh Clinton, who pitched 4.2 innings before his major league debut, was literally drooping in the dugout like a wilted cabbage. He was relieved after doing his best since he was a baby.

A rookie who just came up from the farm has done this much, and it *doesn’t* ignite the team? That’s a team that doesn’t deserve to win.

12-14?

It wasn’t enough.

Of course, even if we beat the Dodgers much harder here and win, 1 win and 2 losses won’t change to 2 wins and 1 loss. But there were still 58 games left in the season, and in order to approach the remaining games with better momentum, a clear revenge was needed.

Scores.

And more scores.

The Dodgers, who had already used Louis Stone, a setup man, in the 7th inning, now only had closer John Brown left as a better option. But putting out the closer in the 8th inning when they’re behind by 2 points?

That’s absurd.

Game 3 of the series against the Dodgers.

The bottom of the 9th inning attack never came.

***

[New York Yankees Game 3 of the series: 19-12!! A cool come-from-behind victory!!]

[Choi Su-won multi-home run for 2 consecutive games!!]

[August: 0.583/0.615/1.667. Revival of the monster?]

[Josh Clinton: 4.2 innings scoreless!! A fantastic debut to save the team from crisis!!]

[Game 1 against the Chicago White Sox!! Choi Su-won’s 40th home run of the season!! Only 3 behind league home run king Wander Franco!!]

[Perfect both pitching and hitting? Choi Su-won!! 7 innings, 1 run in the 2nd game against Chicago!! ERA 3.53!! Only 57.1 innings left until the season’s regulation innings!!]

[The Yankees prove they are the masters of the American League!! Series sweep against Chicago!! Only 3 points were given up in 3 games!! A whopping 27 points were scored!!]

The Yankees’ rapid advance continued.

A winning series in the 3-game series against the Miami Marlins.

Another winning series in the 3-game series against the Atlanta Braves.

And a whopping 4 consecutive wins in the 4-game series against the Detroit Tigers, sweeping the series.

They recorded an absurd record of 11 wins and 2 losses in 13 consecutive home games, and they made it clear they would be the team with the highest winning percentage in the American League this season by recording a winning series even in the away game against Milwaukee.

And back to Tampa Bay.

Wander Franco threw his smartphone on the bed.

“Damn it!!!”

Wander Franco, who had recorded fantastic results in April, May, and June, failed to win the Player of the Month award, pushed back by Choi Su-won, who had recorded even more fantastic results.

And July.

When Choi Su-won recorded relatively human results of 0.390/0.433/0.593, Wander Franco still recorded great results of 0.337/0.419/0.602, but he was pushed back once again by Rafael Devers, who happened to record OPS [On-Base Plus Slugging; a common measure of a batter’s overall offensive performance] 1.217 that month, and failed to win the Player of the Month award.

And August.

It was Wander Franco who swung his bat with the mindset of ‘I *will* definitely do it this time!!’ In fact, he hit very well. A whopping 0.315/0.397/0.741, with 6 home runs. The OPS alone was 1.147, a great record that was hard to believe was made in the heat of August.

But…

0.386/0.507/0.877.

And 7 home runs.

The OPS is a whopping 1.384.

Yes, it was Choi Su-won again.

No, the guy who is working as both a pitcher and a hitter isn’t fading in the second half; he’s reviving like a ghost and once again blocking Wander Franco from winning the Player of the Month award.

In the first place, if it had been like in previous years, Wander Franco’s own record would have already had a few mentions for the MVP [Most Valuable Player award], but thanks to Choi Su-won, who ran wild with crazy momentum, he couldn’t even win Player of the Month, let alone MVP.

August.

Now, there are only eight games left.

And among them was a match against the Yankees.

“So, according to this schedule, Choi Su-won will be on the mound in the 3rd game against us.”

There was nothing that could be done about Choi Su-won’s hitting.

That was just a fight between the opposing pitcher and Choi Su-won.

But he is a pitcher *and* hitter.

He is a player who also stands on the mound.

*I’m* going to smash him to pieces.

Of course, if the pitcher’s record is ruined, it won’t affect the selection of Player of the Month. The Player of the Month and the Pitcher of the Month have completely different criteria. However, just as defense affects hitting, pitching will naturally affect hitting if it fails miserably. People are emotional animals, and everyone is affected.

The man who would have won the league MVP in the 2028 season based on Choi Su-won’s pre-regression standards was eagerly waiting for the match against Choi Su-won.

***

A 3-game away game against Tampa Bay.

Tampa Bay, currently in 2nd place in the Eastern Division, has a record of 75 wins and 45 losses, the 2nd highest winning percentage in the American League, following us, who are currently recording 82 wins and 38 losses.

The Cleveland Guardians, the 1st place team in the Central Division, have 61 wins and 59 losses. The Texas Rangers, the 1st place team in the Western Division, also have only 69 wins and 50 losses. In other words, if Tampa Bay was in another division, they could receive a direct seed to the Division Series as the team with the 2nd highest winning percentage among the division-winning teams.

For the Tampa Bay Rays, they have to grit their teeth and surpass us in the remaining 42 games. For them, this 3-game series was a chance for a comeback that could be considered their last. If they can sweep the series, they can narrow the gap considerably, with 78 wins and 45 losses versus our 82 wins and 41 losses.

Of course, only the Tampa Bay Rays were focused on that at this point.

“Everyone knows there’s still a good chance, right?”

“Of course.”

Yes, what we’re focused on at this point isn’t just the competition for winning percentage with the Tampa Bay Rays.

What we’re looking at is something much greater than that.

“There’s a monster here who’s breaking all the first records in baseball history. Huh? If we have such a guy, we should set a record or two as well.”

“Did you say 116 games?”

“Yeah, 116 games in terms of number of wins. 124 games in terms of winning percentage.”

“So, all we have to do is win all the games?”

“Well, it’s not difficult. We just have to do what we did in the series before last and last series.”

History.

Yes, what we’re competing with at this point is the team winning percentage of 0.763 set by the Chicago Cubs in 1906, and the record for the most wins, 116, set by the Seattle Mariners in 2001.

Game 1 of the series against Tampa Bay.

We narrowed that number by one more.

And in the following Game 2 of the series, we narrowed that number by one more again.

And the last Game 3 of the series.

The last game of this season against Tampa Bay.

[Tampa Bay Rays vs. New York Yankees Game 3 of the series!! A welcome face appeared in today’s game after a long time. Stan Owens, who had temporarily stepped down due to a fingernail injury in the last Game 2 against the Dodgers, is starting the game today.]

[Yes, it was originally a 15-day IL [Injured List; a list of players who are unable to play due to injury], but it took a few days longer than that, so I was quite worried personally, but thanks to the Yankees’ great momentum, they didn’t rush it.]

Stan Owens proved that resting for 23 days wasn’t a waste, and shut down Tampa Bay with 7 innings of no runs.

[Yankees win!! Win again!!]

[11 consecutive wins!! How far will the New York Yankees’ run go?]

[Choi Su-won renews his record for 95 consecutive games on base!! The only certain things in this world are death and taxes, and Choi Su-won getting on base.]