It was at around this point in the manga that I began to realize that Major 2nd was following a roughly similar trajectory to the original Major.  That’s hardly surprising, since Mitsuda-sensei knows a good formula when he sees it (he tried to change it with a couple of series in-between Major and 2nd, without huge success).  And there is a key difference in that the original series had an almost Adachi-like event early on that drove much of the first season.  But in terms of overall structure, the path we’re following is reassuringly familiar.

That means that a lot of personal drama takes place in the first handful of episodes – the writing of the lineup card, if you like.  Once the scorecards have been filled out we can commence serious on-field action, where the results speak loudly about the development of the plot.  This is something that Major is very, very good at – and you damn well better be, if you’re going to be considered an elite sports series.  No series has ever depicted little league baseball as well, in my opinion, and we’re about to get a reminder of why.

The final name scribbled on the card for now is Sakura, and she’s the focus of the A-part this week.  She shows up at the batting center to try and get a hitting lesson from Daigo (while she’s a good catcher, she apparently never tried to hit) and he’s naturally reluctant given that his precious special training time with Toshiya is about to start.  Sakura invites herself to the training (with a “May-J leaguer) over Daigo’s objections, and much to his horror turns out to be a natural (and already better than he is).  The best Daigo can get out of Toshiya is an acknowledgement that he’s so bad at hitting right now, the only direction he can go is up.

When it comes time for the practice game, Urabe once again proves what a total dickhead he is by refusing to pitch on the grounds that the team is so bad, it needs to prove it can win without him or his own contributions are pointless.  Having the B-pitcher, Matsubara, get some work in and the defense having to step up might have some merit as an idea.  But the way Urabe approaches it is indefensible – a 12 year-old showing up his coach like that totally undermines his authority with the team.  But the coach’s limp reaction makes it clear who’s really calling the shots with the Dolphins at the moment.

The sad truth of it is, at this point it really does appear that Andy and Urabe are the only ones on the Dolphins who are any good.  And Daigo just isn’t capable of changing that yet – as a player, he’s clearly a work in progress.  But he once again proves that his baseball IQ is AP-level – he takes charge on the field when his teammates start to slip into disarray.  It wasn’t Daigo’s job to make those calls, but someone had to do it – and if anything, it proves he should be playing center instead of right, since that’s the guy that’s supposed to be the general in the outfield.

As for Sakura, she doesn’t get her shot just yet – she watches the game from the bench, even as Toshiya discreetly watches it from his car. But the Dolphins do somehow win 7-6, and Daigo makes a positive impression on his teammates (who are admittedly still snarky AF) for the first time.  The report Toshiya gives to Goro on the phone is largely a positive one, as it should be – Daigo is showing real progress.  But at his age, patience is one of the hardest things in the world to master, and knowing that he’s somewhere on the road to being a good player isn’t likely to prove very satisfying…