Even if we don’t have major league baseball back yet, we do have Major 2nd.  And I’m not sure I don’t prefer that to be honest – if I had to choose (though both would obviously be great).  Gadzooks I’ve missed this show, all the more so with the world being so stressful and no real baseball to distract me.  I have no idea if this is a permanent deal or we’re looking at fits and starts – I’d like to think OLM wouldn’t have rebooted the series if they didn’t have at least a few bullets in the trigger.  But where Major is concerned, I’m thrilled to have whatever I get.

After a brief refresher and a long wait tonight for the ep to release (I also re-watched the first season during the hiatus) I jumped right back into the stream of things with no problem.  Our opponent is Itsuki Academy, whose coach respects his opponent enough to throw his ace, Yokouchi-kun, against them in this tournament opener.  He also kept the fact that Fuurin was 2/3 girls from his team, on the grounds that they’d take them too lightly – which said ace seems to be doing anyway.  Realistically a team with 6 girls starting would be an extreme rarity in middle school baseball and, frankly, probably at some disadvantage.  But baseball is a funny game, and middle school is a funny age bracket.

After a janken loss has Fuurin as the visitor (I never knew they decided it that way, but then janken is like a religion here) they hit the ground running.  Literally, in the person of Chisato-san, who promptly steals second after lining the first pitch off the ace’s knee (which would indeed have been grisly in hardball – just ask Wilbur Wood).  Daigo had of course deduced through his scouting that the ace sucked at the slide step, and Chisato didn’t hesitate to use her feminine wiles to unsettle the pitcher – which I suppose is fair game if hardly empowering.

Empowering is a much more natural fit for Yayoi, who promptly takes Yokouchi deep for a two-run homer and a 3-run cushion.  Sawa-san is clearly an elite talent who could trouble most any middle-school pitcher, but this slap in the face seemingly wakes up Itsuki.  The manager unleashes Yokouchi’s slider, which he’d kept hidden on suspicion that he was indeed being scouted, and that makes quick work of the next three batters (good breaking pitches are brutal on even good junior-high hitters).

With Fuurin on defense and Sakura-chan on the mound, the matter of Daigo’s choices as a captain come more resolutely into focus.  I came into this game strongly questioning his decision to let Anita bluster her way into being the starting catcher – Daigo is clearly playing a long game here, but this is win or go home.  Sakura is quite nervous taking the mound in a real middle-school tournament game – who wouldn’t be?  And Anita has only one weapon in her arsenal, which is to talk even more loudly than usual.  I don’t doubt that Anita has talent, but – as Daigo knows so well – catcher is the most vital position in youth baseball.

Yes, Daigo saves the day here – but you shouldn’t have to have your left fielder come running to the mound to save the day.  Turns out Goro’s advice proved useful, which is rare but welcome.  Last time out I referred to pitchers as fragile egomaniacs, while he uses the word delicate (he’d know) – but the meaning is the same.  Daigo has noticed that the mound is higher than at the Fuurin practice field, and promptly digs out a couple of furrows for Sakura’s plant foot and landing point.  Mound height varies even in the big leagues and yes, even big-league pitchers freak out about it.  And even if this was as much of a psychological boost as anything, it settles Sakura down on the mound and she pitches out of trouble.

Of all the plot twists we’ve seen this season, Daigo ceding the catcher’s job to Anita is the most puzzling.  Clearly his destiny lies behind the dish so we know he’ll be back there eventually, but there’s a lot on the line – this is a tournament for crying out loud.  What’s Daigo’s angle here?  He’s quite the little manipulator, is Daigo – he’s going somewhere with this, but I hope it doesn’t take him too long to get there.  Especially with Sakura (his longest-standing teammate) as the main pitcher, I would think his calm demeanor behind the plate would be indispensable.  But any way you slice it it’s great to be able to muse on such things again – Major is back, and I hope it doesn’t go anywhere for a long time.