Chapter Three: The Last-Place Club's Secret Adviser

Through the fifth, Cheng ordered three more adjustments. The Tides smothered a bunt, caught a runner stealing, and rolled a slugger into a double play. Each instruction was wrapped in observations, language habits, and data so no one saw its true source. Lin kept records. Every call came roughly ten seconds before the event. Never more than two seconds off. In the seventh, the Tides trailed 2–1 with two outs and runners at first and third. Gao stepped in. “Han's 107th pitch, a cutter away. Gao swings through it,” said the future. “Don't swing,” Cheng told him. Gao tapped his helmet. The cutter caught the zone. Strike one. The future shifted, and the ringing flooded Cheng's head. “Another cutter. Gao fouls it away.” “Take the second pitch too.”