The game started out with a fairly compelling storyline. Yusei Kikuchi was to face Masahiro Tanaka, a fellow Japanese pitcher who went to a high school near Kikuchi’s, whose high school team a young Kikuchi watched win a championship. Kikuchi has described Tanaka as a role model to all Japanese pitchers, and this was Kikuchi’s first chance to face him. It’s like a terribly easy movie plot, where the young rookie - we’ll ignore that Kikuchi is only 2.5 years younger - takes on this larger-than-life figure from back home, a legend at the end of his career - we’ll also ignore that Tanaka is only 30.
Yusei Kikuchi’s Big Day
