By Saruwatari Tsuyoshi, Kyoto Shimbun News

11/5/2015: Nagoya, Japan – Weird. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. When we last read the script in the spring, this was supposed to be a transition season.

Rookie SS Ietsuna Oyama and CL Kyoichi Yamamoto needed to get some more experience before being ready, the experts said. After their “first cup of coffee”, young guys like Kenkichi “Virus” Gato and Hiroshige Takeda were going to get their first test of a full season of LRS baseball. Veterans like Jorge Rivera and Ben “Chinook” Bigalow were clearly in decline and simply holding down spots until new talent could be brought up.

The team struggled at season’s end, ending up second in the BGG. #2 SP Manabu Tsuchiya went down with a torn rotator cuff. The only green this team was going to see was on the 18^th hole.  But in the fading October light, somebody switched scripts. They lit up the last 10 regular season games, going 9-1, then sweeping aside the upstart Naha Shisa in a four-game playoff to take the BBG crown for the 5^th consecutive time. Crippled, defiant, proud – no way this club was going to beat the powerful Shin Seiki Evas in the Neo-Tokyo Cup. Except that they did.

BBG Manager of the Year Shigeo Nagashima came up with a beauty of a game plan and his team delivered a win for the ages. They stole bases, ran the bases aggressively, and fielded like… well, like fevered monkeys, frankly. Inspired by Yuukan-chan, no doubt! This series was going to take six games to decide.

Game 6! A showcase of team strategy. Fans were yelling, “Call the cops!” while Edo racked up six stolen bases (Oyama 2, Adachi 2, Chien 2, Fujii 2). Edo rolled out to an early 5-0 lead but, by the 9^th, Shin Seiki had knotted it all up in gritty fashion when they waved Ryozo Takeuchi home on a Yukinaga Toyota single.

In the top of the 11^th, Oyama was gunned down at home plate trying to get the potential winning run across. To 14 innings it went, tension building. Then it’s Oyama again with a leadoff triple. Surely, he can score now. “Wheels” Chien draws the intentional walk. It’s up to youngster Takeshi Hayashi, who delivers with an RBI single. It’s a one-run lead. Is it enough? Homu-Ran strides up to the plate with a purposeful air about him. First pitch: Wham! 493 feet of pure joy for Edo fans, and three runs!

The Evas never go quietly, though, especially in clutch time. Sure enough, Takeuchi strokes a leadoff double, followed quickly by a Katsuhito Sakurai single and a sac fly by Toyota (4 RBI). The issue was in doubt. All Edo’s hopes rested on the shoulders of rookie southpaw Yamamoto, who was looking tired. A call to the pen brought in fan-favorite Shigemasa Morimoto, who managed to induce Ton Matsumoto into a 2-2 groundout to close the game.

Five hours, six minutes, 14 innings, 30 hits, a ton of baseball, and 44,988 thoroughly entertained fans later, it was done. The Battousai had somehow managed to defend their title, but more importantly for many, the LRS delivered another classic Neo-Tokyo Cup.

After the game, a gleeful 40-year-old Kenko Nakamura, an incurable Three Stooges fan, summed it up best when he was heard shouting at the grinning Morhiro Nakamura, “I’m a victim of soicumstance!”