The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 368

368. World Series (4)

The Dodgers were tenacious.

Baseball is a sport where small gains and losses accumulate, ultimately determining victory or defeat. At least, that’s what they believed.

It wasn’t entirely wrong.

Compared to American football or basketball, baseball has relatively fewer scores, so squeezing out one or two more runs while conceding fewer significantly increases the chances of winning.

Yes, that’s the kind of sport baseball was.

-Clang!!!

Top of the 5th inning. No outs, runner on 1st.

Mookie Betts successfully executed a sacrifice bunt. Shohei Ohtani followed with a single, putting runners on 1st and 3rd, and Diego Vegas added a sacrifice fly, allowing the Dodgers to squeeze out another run. The score was now 2-5.

“Alright! Let’s go! Let’s chip away at it, one run at a time!”

“Yeah, let’s do it!”

The Dodgers’ dugout cheered loudly, encouraging each other.

Domingo Rodriguez shattered their momentum in an instant.

Fastball.

And then a changeup.

-Whoosh!

“Strike! Out!”

A clean three-pitch strikeout.

Especially that last changeup was perhaps the most potent pitch he had thrown all day. Domingo came down from the mound, clearly demonstrating that he was still in top form despite pitching five innings.

However, the fire in the Dodgers’ dugout didn’t die out.

“It’s not over yet. We still have four more offensive chances.”

“That’s right. Domingo Rodriguez already has 89 pitches. At most, he’ll pitch one more inning. Their starter is top-notch, but their bullpen isn’t nearly as good.”

A strong desire for victory.

A yearning for the sweet goal of a championship. Huge bonuses and honor. And above all, the intense competitive spirit that every professional athlete should have – the simple desire to win – heated up the Dodgers’ dugout, which had just conceded an additional point.

The eyes of the Dodgers players, as they put on their gloves and headed onto the field, gleamed with the intense emotion that they could do it, no, they had to do it.

[Well, the score is currently 5-2, with the Yankees leading by three points. David Steele gave up 5 runs in the first 2 innings with 3 home runs, but he has been pitching very calmly in the 3rd and 4th innings, preventing the Yankees from scoring.]

[But the problem is the bottom of the 5th. The Yankees’ powerful lineup is starting up again. From Anthony Volpe to Austin Battle, the seven players have a combined total of 221 home runs this season. For reference, only nine teams have more than 219 team home runs this season.]

[However, it’s a bit fortunate for the LA Dodgers that they managed to get Anthony Volpe out in the previous innings. It’s very tricky to face Choi Soo-won with Anthony Volpe on base. Tyler Veit showed us in the 2nd inning what could happen if they chose to walk him.]

[If you were Park Dong-hyuk, what choice would you make in that situation?]

[Well. It’s a very difficult choice. If you compete, you feel like you’re just giving up a point. If you avoid him, the following hitters are just absurd. But if I had to choose, I would compete. His slugging percentage is so high that you have to walk him if there’s a runner on base, but that’s not the case now. Besides, Choi Soo-won doesn’t automatically hit a home run even if he makes contact. His on-base percentage is close to .500, but it’s not quite .500. Even excluding intentional walks, it’s just over .450.]

[I see. Ah, the Dodgers’ dugout isn’t avoiding him either. They’re going to compete.]

[Yes, I think there must have been a thorough discussion between the pitcher and the manager during the Dodgers’ offensive inning.]

-Clang!!!

On the third pitch.

Choi Soo-won lofted a splitter [a type of fastball that breaks downward] that came in low.

[He hit it!! Choi Soo-won!! To left-center!! A strong hit!! Ah, but the angle of the hit isn’t very good. He lifted it too deeply.]

Left fielder Victor Gomez, who had been waiting slightly behind, quickly ran to the expected landing spot. The ball soared higher and higher. It was about time for it to start arcing and coming down, but the ball wasn’t falling. Victor Gomez took a few more steps back. And then a few more…

-Thud

And his back hit the wall.

Where was the expected landing point of the rapidly falling ball?

Victor Gomez jumped high with the elastic body unique to black people, like a spring. His left arm stretched out. The baseball went into the very end of that glove.

“Out!!!”

At that moment, an enormous roar erupted from the Dodgers’ dugout. If the batter at the plate had been Anthony Volpe, or even Tyler Veit, Aaron Judge, or Mike Trout, they wouldn’t have been this happy. They had asked him to compete, prepared to walk him, but they were still anxious about what Choi Soo-won might do.

But the result was a flyout. Of course, the process was very close, but it was even better. Even if it wasn’t the old superstition that good offense follows good defense, it was clear that this kind of defense boosted the team’s morale.

“Alright, let’s catch up. Go Dodgers!!”

“Let’s go!! Dodgers!!!”

Tyler Veit got a hit, but it was bearable since his hitting was on fire today. But when Aaron Judge followed with a consecutive hit, putting runners on 1st and 3rd with one out, they couldn’t just stand still.

[The Dodgers’ pitching coach is coming up to the mound.]

[Well, there are runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. His pitch count is also getting close to 90. But he’s still the ace. I think he’ll just go up there to refresh him and give him a simple pep talk before coming down.]

[Maybe talk about what’s for dinner tonight.]

[Well, David Steele became a father this year, so they might talk about his child. I remember being most motivated when I was an active player by the thought of earning money for baby formula.]

[Yes, David Steele is a major leaguer, so he doesn’t have to worry about the cost of baby formula, but thinking about his baby will give him strength, right?]

And Mike Trout stepped up to the plate.

***

If you ask people who the best baseball player of the 21st century is, you’ll hear many names. Legendary pitchers from the late 90s like Pedro Martinez also played in the early 21st century, so some people will say their names, as well as Clayton Kershaw, Albert Pujols, or the steroid-tainted Barry Bonds. Some will say Shohei Ohtani, who showed the most powerful impact, and long-time Yankees fans might say No. 2 [Derek Jeter’s number] or No. 99 [Aaron Judge’s number]. Ah, No. 0 [referring to a specific player] might be mentioned more often than you think, as he’s been having such an impactful season this year.

But even so, the name that most people will pick is this man. It’s an undeniable fact that it’s Mike Trout. In the 2026 vote to select the 100 greatest players in Major League history, Mike Trout ranked 8th overall, the only active player to be named in the top 30.

When he was ranked 15th in 2021, the comment attached to him was, ‘He turned 30 in the 21st season. Therefore, the inscription on his Hall of Fame plaque is not yet complete. He was the best rookie of all time, and the only obstacles in his career are injuries… Ah, injuries and a franchise that completely buries him in October.’

And when he was ranked 8th overall in 2026, the comment was, ‘He is now 35 years old. The only players who can be definitively said to be greater than him are Ruth, Mays, and Hank Aaron. The remaining players can now be seen as a matter of preference. The fact that he has no championships in his career is not a big flaw. Ted Williams and Ty Cobb didn’t win championships either. Ah, is it not yet confirmed that he has no rings in his career? Well… Is that really the case?’

A desire to become the greatest player of all time?

Yes, of course, he had it. But if it was really for his career, it would have been more honorable to remain a franchise player with the LA Angels until the end, even if he didn’t win a championship, and retire as an uncrowned king.

The beginning of all ball games was the desire to win. Mike Trout was a professional athlete who could only be reached by those who had the greatest desire to win in that childish ball game. No, he was one of the greatest players of all time, even among those professional athletes.

He wanted to win.

He just wanted to win like crazy.

And the justification was good.

─For the future of the team.

He gives the future to a team that has given up on winning now, and he moves to a team that can win now. Of course, it was a gamble. There was no guarantee that the team he moved to would win the championship, and the families who had already settled down could not move their homes as a group for just two and a half years of his playing career.

But even so, he chose to go to New York.

And the Yankees won and won and won again. It was a fantastic season that will go down in history.

Game 1 of the World Series.

Runners on 1st and 3rd.

The man who was considered the greatest player of the 21st century, but who had only swung his bat properly in October once, gripped his bat.

The Yankees’ fiery determination to somehow block this and catch up one point at a time flickered in the stadium.

And in that heated atmosphere, those gathered at Yankee Stadium felt a point of coolness that they could not understand. Of course, it was the end of October. It was not strange for a cool breeze to blow in New York in the evening.

David Steele threw the ball.

A 99.4 mph fastball.

It was an excellent choice against an aging hitter.

Mike Trout’s bat moved.

Quickly.

Faster than anyone else.

-Clang!!!!

Reduce mistakes and latch onto the opponent’s small mistakes, and eventually victory will come.

Yes, baseball is that kind of sport.

Mike Trout’s hit stretched out.

Victor Gomez, who had robbed Choi Soo-won of a potential home run, watched the hit.

A 1:1 match between the pitcher and the batter.