The Olympics
"Yo, who do you think's gonna win? We gotta throw down a bet on this!"
Two hours before the first Olympic baseball game.
No sooner had Ko Mandeok and Hyeon-bin arrived at my place than Ho-min proposed a wager.
"A bet?"
"Yeah."
"On what?"
"Which team wins?"
Our first opponent was none other than the Netherlands.
This Olympic preliminary round-robin had eight teams total: host nation USA, plus Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, the Netherlands, and Canada.
Back home everyone was cheering, "Go for the medal, Team Korea!" but the objective overseas consensus was that even getting out of the prelims might be a stretch for us. You had to finish in the top four to reach the knockout tournament, which roughly meant at least four wins. For that reason the Netherlands and Taiwan were teams we absolutely had to take down no matter what.
And yet…
"I'm going Netherlands."
"Same."
"Me too."
"…Then there's no bet!"
None of us thought our national team was going to win. It couldn't be helped, because—
"You saw the starter, right? You still picking Korea after that?"
"True."
"Yeah, our starter's a bit…"
"That's fair, but… ah, what do we do then?"
The national team's starter for the first game had been absurdly set as Na Hong-gi of the Dragons. Who was Na Hong-gi? A one-tool fastball pitcher who couldn't even locate his pitches. And yet Manager Min Gucheol was sending him out to start against the Netherlands. The reason he gave was something else entirely:
"Na Hong-gi's fastball is more than enough to overpower the Dutch hitters. If he just shows the same form he had when he threw that shutout against the Savers last time, I don't think winning will be difficult."
"If it had been senior Gwak Jeong-min or Jang Seon-hyeok or Na Jeong-gi, I'd have had some hope. But that bastard Na Hong-gi? No way."
Gwak Jeong-min, Jang Seon-hyeok, and Na Jeong-gi were the domestic aces of their respective teams, the ones who carried the rotation once you set the foreign pitchers aside. Gwak for the Falcons, Jang for the Warriors, and Na Jeong-gi as the Stars' number-two starter—sitting right behind one foreign arm. With Kwon Jong-jin and me sitting this Olympics out, those three were supposed to be the starters who carried the national team. And yet somehow, out of nowhere, it was Na Hong-gi—a guy whose selection nobody could even explain.
If Na Hong-gi had still needed military service benefits, I might have understood. But the guy was thirty-two this year. In other words, whether you looked at pure ability or any other factor, there was simply no reason for him to be on the roster. And now they were starting him today, so all of us were picking the Netherlands to win.
"Maybe they mixed him up with senior Na Jeong-gi because the names are similar?"
Hyeon-bin's wild theory.
"……Is that old man actually that dumb? How else do you explain putting Na Hong-gi out there as the starter?"
I wanted to say that made no sense… so why couldn't I get the words out?
"Ah, well, nothing we can do then. Let's just do it by score."
"Score?"
"We're all saying Korea loses anyway, right? So we bet on the final score."
"Yeah, alright."
We each wrote our predicted scores on the sticky notes Ho-min handed out. Stake was a hundred thousand won apiece. I'd thought about cutting Hyeon-bin a break since he was a rookie, but according to Ko Mandeok the kid's family was loaded, so we made him put up the same amount. And then an extra ten thousand each on top.
"What's this for?"
"Just a straight bet's boring. Heh heh. Just wait."
Ho-min took the sticky notes with our scores plus the forty thousand won total and left the house. About fifteen minutes later, each of us had a sports betting slip in front of us with our predicted scores printed on it.
"Aren't we not supposed to be doing this kind of thing?"
"Who cares? I bought them."
"……Yeah, fair enough."
"Heh heh heh. Okay, that's settled. Let's chill a bit, and when the food gets here we'll eat and watch~"
The first game for the Republic of Korea national team at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics is about to begin—against the Netherlands.
People often say baseball isn't popular in Europe, but the Netherlands is different. They have a significant number of players in the majors and even a Baseball World Cup title to their name.
That's right. Looking at the Dutch lineup right now, there are five major leaguers included.
And not only that—there are quite a few players who have played in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and elsewhere. That means you cannot ignore the Netherlands' talent, and they know the Korean style of baseball extremely well.
For our national team, this is a game they absolutely have to win, isn't it?
Exactly. I hope our players show everything they've polished so far and come away with a good result today.
The Dutch starter has taken the mound. Ron Karraga. He's currently the number-three starter for the San Francisco Giants in the majors.
His fastball tops out at 158 km/h. His main weapon is a sinker that reaches 155 km/h.
"Whoa… a 155 km/h sinker. That's insane."
"If this guy wants to throw hard, he can. He'll hit 155 for sure."
Hyeon-bin sounded impressed by the TV commentary. Ko Mandeok pointed at me with a completely unimpressed look.
"Ah… then why don't you throw one?"
Hyeon-bin's perfectly reasonable question.
"I want to throw it, but Mandeok-hyung won't let me."
"Huh? Why?"
"Says he doesn't want to memorize more signs. Claims he's already got enough and doesn't want me making it more complicated."
"What? That doesn't even—"
"Hey! Th-that was just a joke!"
Ko Mandeok waved both hands frantically in denial, but Hyeon-bin was already looking at him like he was an idiot.
"You! What kind of look is that to give a senior?"
Hyeon-bin quickly averted his eyes, but everyone who needed to see it had already seen it. Heh heh.
"Alright, alright. It's starting~ Grab a glass of champagne and some sushi~"
"No beer?"
"What kind of person drinks beer with sushi? If you really need something, there's soju."
"Ah~ champagne… soju's not great either."
"You're ridiculously picky."
"Ridiculously? Ridiculously?"
While Ko Mandeok and Ho-min kept up their banter, the Dutch pitcher finished his warm-up throws and waited for a batter. Then the Korean national team lineup appeared on screen.
"Whoa~ look at that lineup. Incredible. Just incredible."
"Our captain's the only one I feel bad for."
"Haa… I heard the manager told the captain he didn't have to go if he didn't want to. Captain said he was going anyway."
"Yeah, I heard that too."
Looking at the national team lineup on the screen really did make your jaw drop.
"They're actually batting Go Yeong-su third."
"That's the least of it. At least the guy has some power. Three Dragons players. Three!"
"The Dolphins have three too."
"Huh? You're right."
"At least the Dolphins hitters can still do team batting. But the Dragons…"
"Yeah…"
This season the Dragons sat tenth in the standings, tenth in team batting average, tenth in team home runs—they really seemed to love double-digit rankings. The only team without a single .300 hitter. That was the Dragons. And not only had they taken five guys from that team, they were starting three of them.
"Is there actually something wrong with him? He's not young either…"
"Right? Even you think so, hyung? I don't care how much money they're paying him—you can't put out a lineup like that."
Ho-min and Ko Mandeok had always gotten along, but today they were especially in sync. Making these two friends was my great sin. At first it hadn't been like this… well, Ho-min had always been a little dense, but Ko Mandeok hadn't. The more time they spent together, the more they seemed to pick up only each other's worst habits. Watching them these days felt like watching two people turn into bigger idiots in real time.
"It's starting."
The home plate umpire finally called for play, and the Dutch starter delivered the first pitch.
Against Korea's leadoff hitter Kim Gyuyeol, the first pitch—a sinker comes in for a strike.
One-fifty-three on the gun. A very sharp pitch that ran in on the hands. The ball dropped diagonally right in front of the batter and caught the zone perfectly.
Velocity and break both feel a bit like Kang Hajin's two-seamer.
That's right. Though Kang Hajin's two-seamer breaks a little later, closer to the batter. That's why hitters have an even harder time with it.
"They're talking about you. Those two really love you, you know that?"
"Commissioner Jeong especially looks like he'd die for this kid."
"Right? He just straight-up praises him."
Commissioner Jeong was one of the few older baseball people who actually thought well of me. Ever since he'd started dropping my name even during other teams' games, I'd basically become his honorary son.
"Anyway, those guys are at it again."
"What?"
"Zoning out in the box and then walking back."
"Ah~ heh heh heh."
"Seriously, when we played that combined team game I was watching from behind and it was pathetic… everyone except our captain just stood there staring at empty air."
"Heh heh heh heh."
While Ko Mandeok freely roasted Kim Gyuyeol, another strike came in. Sinker again. Then a curve and a high fastball ran the count to two-and-two. Through all four pitches, Kim Gyuyeol never once took a swing.
"Look at that. Look! The leadoff hitter has zero intention of swinging. Yeah, you need to see pitches, but you've still got to swing at something!"
Ko Mandeok jabbed a finger at the screen and cursed again.
Strikeout! Kim Gyuyeol goes down looking on a curve that caught the zone.
He looks very tense. It's nerve-wracking, but you have to overcome it and attack aggressively.
Commissioner Jeong spoke in a regretful voice, but of course the players couldn't hear him.
Another strikeout. Ron Karraga has now struck out two in a row.
Back-to-back strikeouts, two outs.
Go Yeong-su! He softly punches a fastball over the first baseman's head! Korea's first baserunner. Two outs, runner on first!
At least Go Yeong-su did his job as the three-hole hitter. And then—
Seo Gyeongmin!! Korea's cleanup hitter Seo Gyeongmin! A base hit that drops into left-center! Runners now on first and third!
Our captain came through and gave us a real chance.
"That's our captain. Takes a pitch that was a little jammed and just smokes it."
"Looked a hair late, but he still squared it up perfectly."
Even though every one of us had predicted a Dutch win, the moment the captain got a hit and created a scoring chance, we all started getting excited. The national team still pissed us off… but we were still Koreans, after all. Couldn't help it.
Walk! It's a walk. Park Ji-hoon works a seven-pitch walk, and now the bases are loaded! Korea has a golden opportunity in the first inning!
Two outs, bases loaded. One hit would seize the momentum completely. Stepping into the box was Hwang Jongdu—Dragons hitter and my old classmate.
Karraga was throwing well through two outs, but suddenly he can't locate the sinker. Hwang Jongdu has always been strong against fastballs, so this is worth watching.
Just as the commentator said, Karraga went to the fastball against Hwang Jongdu. Better a fastball he could still somewhat control than a sinker that was all over the place. Hwang Jongdu should have expected exactly that, but—
Swing and a miss. Count goes to two strikes.
Looking at that, it seems he was sitting sinker. There's a big gap between the bat and the ball. He was swinging from the start with only the sinker in mind.
This idiot took two completely ridiculous swings as if he were hunting sinkers and nothing else.
Hwang Jongdu looks very tense. He's not taking his normal swing at all. Stepping out for a second to reset the timing might help…
"That guy's right. If it's not working, just step out of the box for a second… why is he standing there like an idiot?"
"Stance is narrower than usual, shoulders are dropped—he's a complete mess. Looks like he's trying to see it and react…"
"If a sinker comes now, it's over."
"Exactly."
Ko Mandeok and Ho-min's analysis.
Ah… strikeout. He watches the third sinker go by for strike three.
Frustrating. No adjustment at all. The sinker he was looking for came, and still…
"Haa…"
"What a moron."
Ko Mandeok and Ho-min both sighed. Hyeon-bin stared at the two of them in amazement.
"…How do you guys know all that?"
"Huh?"
"What?"
"Whoa…"
Hyeon-bin seemed to have developed a small amount of respect for Ko Mandeok and Ho-min. The two idiots lit up at the attention.
"See, Hyeon-bin? Pitch sequencing is like this, okay?"
"Right, so in a situation like this…"
The three of them looked like they were about to get even closer. Not good.
Another exhausting person is about to join the group. Haa…
Innocent Hyeon-bin was getting corrupted.