Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 653 - 13: A Jaw-Dropping Debut

The significance of the Yankees vs. Red Sox rivalry is unique.

This is evident from today's attendance at George Steinbrenner Field:

Previous preseason games against the Phillies, Blue Jays, and Orioles usually attracted only four to five thousand people, and at best six to seven thousand on weekends. Today, the playoff game against the Red Sox drew over ten thousand fans, filling Steinbrenner Field to capacity.

Apart from this, the number of media and reporters on the sidelines doubled. A large number of media crowded the media seats on the sidelines, their camera lenses flashing constantly. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

They come here today not only drawn by the classic Yankees vs. Red Sox rivalry but also for another important reason:

This game marks the Major League debut of Lin Guanglai, who has been hyped up all offseason by professional evaluators. The Red Sox countered with their farm system's talented hitter Andrew Benintendi as the lead-off batter.

The top two hundred rookies, Asia's super talent versus North America's powerful hitter—this hype naturally whetted the reporters' appetite for big news;

Many of them also want to see for themselves whether the rookie ranking has made an error or if Lin Guanglai is truly as formidable as the scouting reports suggest, formidable enough to be MVP-level like Ichiro Suzuki once he entered the Major League.

As one of the official broadcasters of MLB, Fox Sports TV also sent a professional team to live broadcast today's game, led by their star commentator Kevin Burkhardt. Today, they invited two very special guests, both recently retired players:

On the left, David Ortiz, who played 14 seasons with the Boston Red Sox, achieved three World Series championships, ten All-Star appearances, and seven Silver Slugger awards, known as "Big Papi".

On the right, Derek Jeter, who dedicated 20 seasons to the New York Yankees, achieved five World Series championships, fourteen All-Star appearances, five Gold Gloves, and five Silver Slugger awards, the Yankees' eternal captain.

Even though officially retired, Ortiz and Jeter, who played for rival teams, still presented a confrontational stance on the show, singing opposing tunes during the pre-game analysis.

As the Yankees' former captain, Jeter naturally wants to see a talented player like Lin Guanglai join the Yankees. Even if Lin hasn't pitched in MLB yet, he expressed support for his player:

"Kevin, trust me, I've been teammates with Ichiro for a while—the Nippon Professional Baseball, although somewhat weaker than the Major League, those honors aren't as easy to achieve as we imagined, let alone monopolizing them for three consecutive years. Besides, even without those awards, consecutive 300K seasons and an ERA below 1 are enough to prove he's extraordinary!"

"As a lifelong Yankees fan, I'm very satisfied with the management's actions this time—we snagged a young talent amidst intense competition that could anchor the Bronx pitcher's mound for 15 years!" Here, Jeter once again flashed his trademark charming smile at the camera, "Perhaps I should invite him to publish an article on The Players' Tribune?"

Just as Jeter finished speaking, Ortiz snorted from the other side, immediately expressing his opposition: "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink—making such judgments without seeing him pitch a single ball, Derek, it seems your Yankees bias has made you lose even the most basic judgment as a player..."

Jeter quickly retorted, "Don't be ridiculous, David. You know, if your Red Sox hadn't joined this competition, maybe you'd have some credibility in saying this; but saying it now as the loser feels like black humor... Anyway, in Lin's competition, he ultimately chose Yankees over Red Sox—that's a fact—so, can I understand this as jealousy on your part?"

Ortiz's face visibly flushed but he didn't back down, "Let's see once the game starts, today our Andrew Benintendi will start as lead-off the batter, and when the two young players face off, our Red Sox will be the winners!"

"Then we'll see about that, shall we?" Jeter shrugged casually, unfazed by Ortiz's words. Suddenly, when someone passed by the temporary commentary booth built on the sidelines, Derek Jeter's eyes lit up and he quickly went over and pulled the person over.

The newcomer was Lin Guanglai, at this point with several dozen minutes before the game began. He had just finished the outfield catch practice and was preparing to head back to the bullpen for final pitch warm-ups; who would've thought that halfway through, he'd be pulled to the camera by Jeter.

"Lin, say hello to the American audience!"

Lin gave a simple greeting to the camera and exchanged pleasantries with the team's famous alumni Jeter. He then indicated he needed to leave to head to the bullpen for warm-up; before leaving, the main commentator Kevin Burkhardt asked Lin Guanglai a question: