Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

The World Championship had a very packed schedule.

Although Japan avoided elimination in the preliminary rounds, they only had one day to rest before they had to face their first opponent.

August 26, 3:30 PM.

The match between Japan and Italy was about to begin.

"Italy!"

For most of the team members, Italy, or more specifically Rome, was a city they held in high regard.

The city of dreams, the city of love, the city of fashion, the city of food...

Many beautiful imaginations seemed to connect with this country.

However, when it comes to baseball, they really didn't have much of an impression.

If you consider the previous national team of Japan, they would certainly be familiar with Italy.

Their world ranking was also quite high, usually lingering around the top 10.

Ninth, tenth, eleventh.

They were strong enough, but not unbeatable.

For Japan's players, defeating such an opponent wasn't a big challenge.

In fact, the top 5 teams, excluding Mexico in sixth, could hardly lose to any other teams.

If they lost, it was usually to one of the other top 5 teams.

This was inevitable, as baseball culture and player abilities vary significantly across countries.

How big is this difference?

To give a simple example, let's look at Taiwan.

The Taiwan team ranked third in the world.

Once, during a world championship, for some reason, several of their best players couldn't join the national team due to unexpected circumstances.

They had to let the second-string team compete with other national teams.

Yet, even this second-string team defeated many opponents and made it to the semifinals.

Among their defeated opponents was the fourth-ranked South Korea.

The third-ranked second-string team was able to beat the fourth-ranked team.

The gap was that big!

If the gap between the top three and fourth is this large, it's even more apparent when comparing the top five to the teams below them.

Italy ranks in the top 10, which seems impressive at first glance.

But that's not enough to get Japan's team to take notice.

The reality is harsh.

Even if Japan had selected their best elite players, they would never have paid much attention to the team ranked tenth in the world.

However, this Italian team, or more specifically, this age group of Italian players, is an exception.

Previously, there was a Dutch team that suddenly rose to prominence, defeating one of the top 5 teams and advancing to the semifinals.

In the semifinals, they defeated another team from the top 5.

They made it to the finals.

Although they lost in the finals due to exhaustion from previous matches, they were still honored despite the defeat.

In recent years, this was Europe's highest achievement, advancing all the way to the finals.

This achievement is about to be reproduced by Italy's team.

In a previous match, they had defeated one of the top 5 teams, South Korea.

And that's not all. Before this tournament, they had also played a practice match with the Cuban team.

In that match, the game ended in a draw.

This was the only European team since the Dutch team to achieve this feat.

"The first opponent is a team like this, which is quite tricky."

At first, the team didn't pay much attention to Italy, but after learning about their performance, they couldn't ignore them.

They had defeated South Korea and drawn with Cuba.

These two teams are ranked fourth and fifth in the world.

Even if they couldn't tell how strong Italy really was, they could feel that the opponent's strength was considerable.

At the very least, they were a team that could pose a threat.

Facing such an opponent in the first match meant that the challenges ahead would only get bigger.

With such a tight schedule of the tournament, the importance of the groupings becomes evident.

The last two games, the semifinals and finals, will be the top 5 teams battling it out.

These battles are extremely brutal, and even Japan cannot afford to be careless.

Considering this, the importance of the first match is clear.

The stronger the opponent, the worse the situation for them.

Conversely, the weaker the opponent, the better for their chances.

This doesn't mean that just because they're facing a strong opponent, they can't win. For the top 5 teams, unless they face each other, no other teams can really compete on their level.

However, not winning doesn't mean there's no cost.

When facing a team with considerable strength, they will have to pay a price to defeat them.

Just like Italy.

Italy's strength quickly caught the attention of the entire team.

They had defeated South Korea and drawn with Cuba.

How unlucky for them to face such a tough opponent right at the start.

This challenge was no less difficult than a semifinal or final.

This meant that if things weren't managed well, they would have to play three games at the level of finals.

Even though Japan's players were all-star athletes, with extraordinary strength, such an exhausting schedule could still take its toll.

Coach Takeda, after watching the video of Italy's previous matches, reluctantly made a decision.

Playing three games of such intensity was impossible for a group of players to manage all at once.

Therefore, they needed to rotate their lineup, in other words, make substitutions.

Before they arrived in Taiwan, Coach Takeda had never considered this possibility.

Why?

Because this team had just been assembled and wasn't fully mature yet.

The main lineup hadn't had much time to work together, let alone the substitute players.

Making this decision was quite risky.

Before coming to Taiwan, Coach Takeda and his assistant coaches hadn't even considered this possibility. Because, frankly, it didn't exist.

If there had been even a tiny hope, they wouldn't have done this.

The risk was too great!

But now, they had been pushed to this point. Whether they liked it or not, they had to continue.

Coach Takeda proposed the rotation, and the team had no objections.

To be honest, with the current lineup, it would be a waste not to rotate. They had several of the top pitchers in the country.

"The best in the country doesn't necessarily mean the best in the world. Your opponents are top players from around the world, so don't get complacent," Coach Takeda reminded the players, sensing a strange atmosphere.

These players had gained fame in high school.

Most had never been part of a national team before.

This meant that the players hadn't certified what the world level meant.

Where did they stand in the world? For most, it was still an unknown.

The only one who could be certain was probably Sawamura.

After all, Sawamura had faced off against Allen, the "Son of Baseball" from America.

Allen's strength was known to all.

Before Sawamura appeared, Allen was the clear number one in the world.

Although their strength was strong, and they tried their best during the match, it was clear that the level of the game far exceeded the Seidou High School baseball team's abilities.

Sawamura had led the team in resisting the incredibly strong Dream Team.

In the end, they fought to a standstill.

Since that event, Sawamura's fame had spread beyond Japan and was known worldwide.

Considering the grouping, Coach Takeda hesitated before deciding to group the Tokyo players together.

The players from other regions were grouped separately.

The Tokyo players had previous experience working together, so they were more coordinated.

With their similar strengths, even if they replaced some players from Tokyo with others, the overall strength wouldn't improve much.

Of course, those who could significantly improve the team were also switched in, like Mima.

Most of the top players from Tokyo were pitchers and catchers.

Though they could play other positions, their strength would inevitably be somewhat weakened.

The infield was fine, with a strong player in every position.

But the outfield was a different story. Apart from Carlos, there wasn't a professional outfielder in the Tokyo star team.

Given this situation, Coach Takeda made his arrangement. He had thought about this, knowing that many of the Tokyo pitchers could also play outfield.

The most obvious examples were Sawamura and Narumiya.

Their roles in the team weren't just Ace pitchers; they were also key hitters.

So even if they weren't pitching, they stayed on the field most of the time.

Their positions? Outfielders.

But because this was a part-time position for them, neither of them was a professional outfielder.

Though they did a good job, they couldn't reach the highest level.

So when assembling the team, Coach Takeda specifically called in Mima.

He was one of the top outfielders in the country.

With him paired up with Carlos, the outfield would be as reliable as the infield.

Both were incredibly fast, with a broad defensive range.

With them around, the other outfielder would have much less pressure.

It would be fine for a pitcher with strong batting but weaker defense to handle the position part-time.

After two hours, Coach Takeda had everything ready.

After dividing the players, he explained the reasons for the lineup.

The reasoning was flawless.

It was hard to believe that it was a last-minute decision.

It seemed like it had been planned all along.

In fact, it had been.

When the team was first formed and practicing internally, Coach Takeda had already noticed that when the Tokyo star players were grouped together, they didn't have any issues.

On the one hand, the players were all excellent, and even if each had their own role, they could still form an outstanding team. On the other hand, it was due to the coordination of the main catcher, Miyuki.

With Miyuki on the field, the Tokyo star team quickly showed their strength.

The most remarkable thing was that these players were all willing to cooperate with Miyuki.

They had all previously been rivals from the same region.

They were the type to be competitive with each other.

For them to be willing to do this was truly rare.

Perhaps it was because they were rivals that they truly understood Miyuki's strength.

It was because they trusted his abilities that they were willing to follow his lead on the field.

After the lineup was done, the next step was to decide which players would go first in the match.

The semifinals and finals would mostly be internal battles among the top 5 teams.

That would be the real challenge!

Although Italy's team was strong, with experience defeating top 5 teams, it wasn't easy to tell just how strong they were during the game.

The reason they won was mainly because their opponent made foolish mistakes.

Coach Takeda observed the team before making his decision.

After some hesitation, he made his choice and said:

"Hongou, you will be the starter."

…

T/N: As always, Thank you all for reading!!

See you Tomorrow!

Until then, take care!

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