Well this manga does A LOT different. The beginning focuses heavily on the building of a team from scratch. The protagonist is a cerebral, but ultimately unremarkable player. After being rejected from his dream team he must assemble a ragtag crew to take revenge.
Its approach to the storytelling of the baseball games focuses almost entirely on the strategy and decisionmaking involved. I learned a shit ton about baseball just from reading this manga.
Unfortunately Shonen Jump readers are a bunch of bird-brained morons, and this series didn't have enough explosions and tits in it so it got axed before we could reach the climax.
I really respect the authors stubborn dedication to telling the story of the assembly of the team. Every member felt like they earned their spot, even when the last three novices joined because it was clear editorial was rushing him - it made sense and was charming.
I would have loved to see this team grow more together. The character development we got was executed extremely well, and the adversity they faced was well thought out.
I would definitely recommend this series to anyone looking for a sports or baseball manga - with the caveat that it is short and sweet and wasn't allowed a real ending.
