To Reach the Mountaintop

[Wind Dancers]

To Reach the Mountaintop
Toyama Wind Dancers

Along the north coast of Japan lies the great Mount Tsurugi, its peak towering 9,839 ft above sea level. Part of the “Japanese Alps”, Mount Tsurugi is often considered “the most dangerous mountain" climbable and is a formidable adversary even to the most seasoned of climbers. But for those living amongst the mountain, it is also a symbol of resilience, passion, and indomitable will. For in the shadow of Mount Tsurugi is the city of Toyama, a city of resiliency sandwiched between the mountains and the sea. In that city, exists a baseball club that represents and plays for its inhabitants; inhabitants who, in return, excuse their passion and love for their club. This baseball club, born from the throes of a league darkened and corrupt by a handful of men, would re-gather and begin a journey to the top of their perceived mountain. A journey that began by hanging on the cliff of pro baseball’s rebirth, would culminate in the people of Toyama dancing joyfully with the wind.

In 2020, the Lupin Cliffhangers would win the LRS in their final season before moving to the Planetary Extreme Baseball Association. The step up to a much more difficult level of baseball was expected to result in struggles early, and struggle the Cliffhangers did. Just after winning the LRS Championship, the Cliffhangers were given an immediate wake-up call by finishing the season 59-103 which is the worst season of baseball in the team’s history. Aiming to be seen as a serious professional baseball team, the team would rebrand into the Toyama Wind Dancers, a name that represents the famous Kaze no bon that takes place each year in Toyama. And while the Wind Dancers would make the playoff twice in 2023 and 2024, growing pains behind the scenes made it clear that there was much work to be done to ensure this club would have long-term success and sustainability in this new baseball world. A drastic change was needed.

In 2026, that drastic and sudden change was made as outgoing Hartford Harpoon GM Dylan Krupilis was handed the reins. Krupilis was an inexperienced GM who had a hot start in Hartford and also had grown up admiring the passion around Japanese baseball but was still trying to find his place in the ocean of the top league in baseball just as Toyama was. He didn’t have the established success of Will Topham, the matured experience of Denny Hills, or the shrewd trade savviness of Greg Abcarian. But he did have an understanding of what the Wind Dancers represented to the city of Toyama. And he brought with him a plan to rebuild that image on an international scale.

Taking over a team of aging and often injured players with names from a bygone era of the LRS, Krupilis began building from the ground up. It was his the to build a team, starting with young developing players, that would play an attractive style of Toyama baseball. And those players would represent and remain loyal to the community of fans that would nurture them throughout this process. Toyama was not looking for mercenaries, and winning was not necessarily the end goal. The goal was to build a team to play Toyama baseball and that would play for the city and its fans. The core of this team would begin with 2 current players that Krupilis inherited with the job. 3B Ivan Juarez, a master of getting on base and the team captain was the prime example of Toyama baseball. Already ingrained in the Toyama community, Juarez’s calm and humble demeanor immediately made him popular with the Toyama fanbase and players alike. As of this article, Juarez has just signed a 1-year extension for what will be his 18th season with Toyama. Recently, Juarez has been a backup infielder/dugout guy being groomed for an inevitably coaching role in the organization. But at his peak, Juarez was a 3-time All-leather winner and a 2-time all-star. The second name on the list was none other than LF Ramiro Salinas, now a 5-time All-leather winner and 3-time all-star. But back then, Salinas was a 23-year-old in AAA looking to break into the Wind Dancers roster. Salinas was lightning-quick with a big bat and had a good head on his shoulders, a perfect fit for the new-look Wind Dancers, and would go on to become a Wind Dancer icon.

As the seasons went by, more pieces were slowly added to the puzzle through trades, drafts, and development. P Zenko Okada in 2028, C Kevin Newton in 2029, 2B Sadaharu Harada in 2030, 1B Fransisco Cabrera in 2031, and the list goes on. And then in 2033, Toyama finally got another taste of playoffs for the first time since 2024 only to be knocked out in the SL League Championship. But after years of treading water and watching division rivals compete for and win the Rodriguez Cup, Toyama felt it was finally their time to win it all. 2034 was the year. Toyama dominated the regular season racking up a team-record 112 wins while holding off an immense Shin Seiki team that was hot on their heels. Toyama would face those same Evas in the Divisional round, which they won 4-3. And in dramatic fashion, they would also win the SL League Championship 4-3 over the Kalamazoo Badgers, earning their first-ever trip to the Rodriguez Cup. But what lay ahead of them, was the powerhouse Florida Farstriders, the envy of the baseball world stacked with talent end-to-end. Despite a valiant effort, the Wind Dancers were dispatched by the recognizable series score of 4-3. The mighty WinD’s at full strength ran into a brick wall they couldn’t break through. The Wind Dancers would continue to find success and have made the playoffs each year since, but struggled to even get TO the Rodriguez Cup again until 2037 when they were swept by West Virginia. During that time, Toyama faced what every good team faces, the challenge of holding onto your players. From 2034-2037 lost a few pieces of their core that had led them to so much regular season success. 1B Armando Gandarilla, OF David Trujillo, C Francisco Alejandrez, CF Guang Liu, and one of Krupilis’ earliest promotions P Dylan McIntosh all left the team at various points.

Heading into 2038, there was plenty of pessimism surrounding the Wind Dancers, even from inside the clubhouse. The remaining core players are now in their 30’s and are showing signs of aging, could they really push for a championship much less stay healthy all season? Could the newest group of young prospects replace the guys that we lost? 1B Francisco Cabrera, CF Juan Aguilera, and 2B Ryozo Kouyama needed to step up but could they make the jump? The Wind Dancer’s current adversary the Niihama-shi Ghosts were fresh off of a 110-win season that saw the WinD’s finish 2nd in the division for the first time since 2033. But, the Wind Dancers were resilient, and they started hot. 16-7 in April, 19-10 in May, and 20-8 in June saw the Wind Dancer’s surge early. But, as is tradition, the injury bug came knocking for the bullpen. Just as it happened the years prior, many expected the weakened Wind Dancers to fall off a bit and stumble their way towards the end of the season. But then something interesting happened, when Toyama usually starts losing, they just kept winning. 16-8 in July, 19-10 in August, and a whopping 20-6 in September, despite even more bullpen injuries, Toyama finished the season strong and with a team-record 113 wins. But now the real test began.

Injuries tended to hit the Wind Dancers hard in playoffs, where the great teams would take advantage of the weakened pen and roll over the Wind Dancers. Toyama’s first test would be against the not-so-wildcard Ghosts, primed for a surge through playoffs. But in a team originally designed to build a deep roster, not necessarily stars, a star took center stage. 26-year-old Francisco Cabrera, fresh off a crazy 50HR, 150 RBI season decided that he just wasn’t going to lose. Always a decent player in playoffs, never spectacular, Cabrera leads the team in hits (12) HR’s (3, and RBIs (7) to will the Wind Dancers past the Ghosts in a 4-3 series. Onto the League Championship against the Aurora Borealis, Cabrera gets hotter hitting .467 with 4 HRs and winning another 4-3 series and leading the Wind Dancers to another PEBA Championship. And in their way is none other than the Florida Farstriders, at this point a dynasty, and arguably the best baseball team in the last 6 years that also have a chip on their shoulders after failing to win the Championship for the past 2 years. In Florida, the Farstriders would send a clear message winning ⅔ and scoring 14 runs to Toyama’s 6. In the return games in Toyama, the Wind Dancers would rally and win 2/2 behind a rowdy crowd of Toyama locals. In a slow game 6, Florida would slowly choke out the Wind Dancers hope of a first Rodriguez Cup with a 3-2 win leading to an epic game 7 clash, winner takes all.

A nervous start to game 7, SP Daniel Hernandez would give up an early run in the 1st but remained solid. In the 7th, Toyama would surge ahead thanks to some smart baserunning from 3B Yoritomo Maeda and a 2-run homerun from OF Ryosei Saito. Florida would score again in the 7th but Toyama carried the 3-2 lead into the 9th inning before tacking on a 4th, a final gift from Francisco Cabrera with a solo shot. The Wind Dancers would send out closer Hideo Miura with just 3 outs remaining from the promised land. Batter 1 flies out and batter 2, former WinD Francisco Alejandrez, strikes out on 3 pitches. But on the third and “final” batter, the Toyama curse would rear its ugly head. On his 2nd pitch to Roberto Tall, Miura would slip while planting his foot leaving a meatball over the plate which Tall gladly sent over the wall to make it 4-3. But worse, Miura, now a key piece in the bullpen and one of the few that has remained healthy, would leave to leave the game and his rolled ankle began to swell. A slap in the face to Toyama's hopes and dreams, it would only be appropriate to lose a key player at the last moment of the last game of the season. With a depleted bullpen, Toyama was forced to call upon RP Rintaro Fukui to close it out. Fukui was once a top Toyama reliever but a nightmare 2037 saw him spend the entire 2038 season in AAA. Fukui was only in the pen because of the aforementioned injury crisis. And it gets worse. Facing Fukui is none other than 2B Michael Roberts, an elite offense weapon who hit .328 during the regular season. Nerves nibble on the back of Fukui’s neck as the righty starts the match-up with two no-doubt balls. But, veteran catcher Kevin Newton calms him down as he sends pitch #3 in the zone for strike 1. Roberts then fouls pitch 4 and 5 off, maybe because of some nerves of his own before watching ball 3 go by him. And then things seemed to stand still.

The hopes of an entire city resting on a final pitch from a pitcher who isn’t supposed to be here, who’s playing for a GM who isn’t supposed to be here, on a team that isn’t supposed to be here. This sudden silence is finally broken by the sound of the wayward swing of a bat, and a baseball nestling into the catcher’s mitt. 18 seasons of waiting, 12 seasons of planning, 6 years of falling short, and 1 month of doubt. Appropriately the next sound heard was of the Toyama fans, who had traveled 7,000 miles and NOT ONCE stopped cheering, as they erupted into jubilation. The players swarm the mound and for that moment, no matter where they came from, everyone that was a part of that team had overcome and made it to their mountaintop. The Toyama Wind Dancers have finally won the Rodriguez Cup.

[Codgers]

nice work