Hello all, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am beyond eager to return to Big Windup!, as we’ve finally arrived at our team’s first actual game. After three episodes of Abe and Mihashi struggling to connect, witnessing Mihashi’s treatment by his former teammates finally gave Abe the context he needed – he now understands where Mihashi is coming from, and what’s more, he actively sympathizes. Abe doesn’t just want to manipulate his pitcher, he wants his pitcher to succeed, and I’m guessing that means we’re going to see some real cunning from our scheming catcher. The show’s premiere offered a brief taste of how Abe can use his opponents’ psychology against them, and since then, each episode has only reaffirmed Big Windup!’s insightful approach to its characterization and drama. With Mihashi’s old teammates arrayed against them, I’m looking forward to a thrilling fusion of sports tactics and psychological drama. Let’s get to it!

Episode 4

Already, the animation seems to step up a bit, as we open on a fluid sequence of the infield players warming up. Just like how first and last episodes tend to make an impression through their improved animation, so too can a dramatic flourish at the beginning of an episode evoke an “illusion of fluidity” for the episode to come. Just having the characters move fluidly for a few seconds evokes the sense that they always could be moving, which is frequently enough to keep the episode from feeling static. It’s only us animation curmudgeons, who pause every three seconds and take note of every cut, who generally realize they’re being “tricked”

Calling this technique a trick might imply it’s a bad thing, but in truth, all animators and filmmakers make use of the audience’s natural psychology whenever possible. The deeper you get into filmmaking, the more you start to recognize all the thousand tricks artists use to evoke sights and emotions beyond what is actually shown

Also clean, detailed character art as Mihashi takes the mound. This cut of just his feet as he kicks dirt away implies his sense of being judged; he hyper-focuses on his shoes, rather than stare down his old teammates

This show’s episode title screens are so sparse, emphasizing the vast blue sky just like the OP

Rather than lean into his control, Abe decides Mihashi’s first pitch should be a fastball straight down the middle – a declaration of intent, emphasizing that he’s no longer the weak pitcher he once was. It feels like a pitch intended for both sides; intimidate the opponent a little, and also build up Mihashi’s confidence by proving that his general pitches are valid. This is the good stuff!

Ultimately, Mihashi can’t actually control the fastball, but it still provides the intended effect to the opponent: spooking him a little, by demonstrating Mihashi is a genuine threat now

In spite of the wild throw, Abe tosses it back with a “nice pitch,” and the rest of the team follow suit. They’re all-in on building up Mihashi

Abe takes out the first batter by taking advantage of Mihashi’s sinking slider, and placing a ball so low in the strike zone that the batter is forced to make a bad infield hit

Ah, this is so much fun! Applying this keen psychological focus to the battery now feels less like two authorial passions being mixed, and more like the most natural way to illustrate the fundamental conflicts of baseball

Incidentally, if you don’t have much experience with baseball, good pitching is less about striking out every single batter than it is about ensuring each batter is forced to make plays you can actually respond to. If your pitcher limits the opponent to easily returnable grounders and pop flies, that’s just as good as striking them out, and actually less of a burden on your arm – the ultimate, inarguable limit of a pitcher’s time on the mound

The opponent’s ace hitter Oda isn’t impressed. And it’s true, Mihashi’s pitches are slow on their face, and the fast ones lack control. At the moment, it’s still purely Abe’s tactical changeups that make him dangerous, which is something you can’t really recognize from the dugout

As in last episode, Mihoshi’s pitcher Kanou demonstrates he doesn’t really bear a grudge against Mihashi, and actually respects his ability

This show also naturally demonstrates why baseball can be a tough sell as a spectator sport. When a pitcher is doing well, the score remains low, and there’s not much “action” on the field. Letting through a lot of hits means a pitcher is failing, and will generally soon be pulled from the mound

With a successful inning behind him, Mihashi is further bolstered by the congratulations of his teammates

Our greedy cleanup hitter Tajima actually baits the opponent’s fork ball, just to prove he can crush it. Clearly not an Abe-sanctioned strategy, but it does work!

Hanai expects to be used as a bunt to push the runner, but instead gets Momoe’s okay to fully swing. He sees this as a special treat, but as Momoe explains it, she frankly just doesn’t trust her team to effectively bunt yet, and also wants to assess their general instincts. A nice contribution by Momoe – it seems she’ll essentially be playing Abe’s role for the offense

Rather than chastise Hanai for pulling the same trick as Tajima and failing, she tells him to think of a way to conquer the fork ball by his next at-bat. Like with Mihashi, she’s fine with accepting short-term losses to make her team into better long-term assets. At the same time, she knows she doesn’t have to actually force her players to follow her strategies – she’s willing to let them make mistakes, because she trusts they’ll actually learn their own lessons without her berating them

Tajima’s a great hitter, but too small to hit home runs. Momoe smartly uses his limitations to rally the rest of his teammates – they might not be able to match his strikes, but he needs them to bring him home

Thanks to Momoe’s smart manipulation, Hanai internalizes precisely the right lesson: going for the fork ball was a greedy challenge to his own teammate, rather than the best way to win

Abe actually primes Mihashi for the cleanup hitter, saying he’s trying to get data, so don’t be afraid if the guy manages a hit. Even if he weren’t trying to scope this guy out, simply priming Mihashi to accept he might not strike out their ace would be a worthwhile psychological trick

“It’s so much easier and more reassuring when the catcher’s on my side.” Yeah, I can’t imagine the catcher being the one who hated him the most really made his middle school years any easier

Abe tries to feel him out with a couple slow balls, but the cleanup hitter Oda doesn’t move an inch

The show does an excellent job of animating how dramatically Mihashi’s posture changes when someone actually hits one of his pitches. He instantly adopts an inward-leaning defensive stance, and is even spooked by Abe sending the ball back to him. His confidence is growing, but he still has a very nervous disposition

Oda’s first swing already offers Abe a pile of information, as he deduces that Oda likes outside balls, but doesn’t have the control to transition his posture if he’s gearing up for a fastball

Oda explicitly requests a fastball, but Abe’s not going to give it to him

With Oda basically ignoring all non-fastball pitches, Abe realizes a basic truth: aside from the people with a grudge against Mihashi, the rest of their opponents don’t really care about winning this game

But next up is a real challenge: Hatake, the opposing catcher. Time for Mihashi’s greatest psychological battle

Hah! Hatake pops the first pitch up, and is out in a single swing. Not much of a battle after all!

Kanou at last reveals his thoughts on Mihashi’s pitching to Oda, explaining how Mihashi’s pitches exhibit a strange orbit relative to the expected trajectory of a fastball. This makes it very difficult to predict what pitch is actually coming, and actually punishes batters for their familiarity with the usual pitch trajectories

Kanou doesn’t just respect Mihashi, he actually feels intimidated by him, and that he must win in order to prove he genuinely deserves the pitcher’s mound. That makes sense – he never actually replaced Mihashi, Mihashi just fled, and so he earned the mound by default. I’m delighted to see this show expanding its psychological focus to its opposing teams!

And Done

Hell yeah, we’re in the thick of it now! This episode offered an unending supply of precisely what I was looking for, as each batter in turn was analyzed and dismantled by Mihashi and Abe’s powerful combo. Even with Mihashi’s old team not really taking him seriously, this episode offered a meaty combination of psychological deduction and tactical prowess, demonstrating the clear leadership talents of Abe and Momoe, while also seeing Mihashi take rapid strides as a player. It’s clear now why Momoe singled Abe out: she knew he was the assistant captain she needed, to handle the pitcher in the same way she’s handling the batters. Watching this team take form is an absolute delight, and I’m eager to see how Mihoshi rallies back!

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