We just wrapped up yet another awesome season of Myachi after-school programs here in the city. On Wednesday we closed the last one out with a bang. Normally Lucky hosts the school program and when the schedule will allow it, I'll put one other Myachi Master there with him for the sake of variety. But on the final day we went all out. Lucky, Kid, Maverick, Hops and myself all showed up for bit of a Myachi bonanza.
And yes, there were trades, there was Fu, there was MYACH and there were some new tricks to work on for everybody (including us masters), but the highlight of the day for me was the biggest game of Myachi Baseball ever played.
We only had time for three innings and my team got crushed (7 to 3), but we all had a blast doing it. See, this wasn't the first time we've played Myachi baseball, but it's the first time that we ever had (a) enough people to field two legitimate teams and (b) paddles.
As you might have guessed, the paddles changed everything. In the past, outfielding was all but impossible in Myachi baseball and passing quickly in the infield was so tough that you constantly gave up runs by lofting the Myachi too high as you moved it from 2nd base to 3rd. Once you add paddles, you can outfield, you can turn double plays and you can scoop a Myachi off the ground quickly enough to keep it in play.
And with the weather getting warmer, I figured it would be a great time to highlight this particularly awesome Myachi game.
HOW TO PLAY:
Basically, Myachi baseball is exactly what you think it is. It's played essentially just like baseball so any rules I don't specifically mention here would just be the same as the rules in regular baseball. There are only a few minor changes you need to make.
BATTING: When you're up to bat at Myachi baseball, you don't have a bat, but you do have two options. One it to use your foot and kick the oncoming pitch into the outfield. The other option is to catch the Myachi and throw it into the outfield. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, but before I discuss those, let's look at a few options the batter doesn't have:
- You cannot use your body to catch the Myachi. If you opt to catch the pitch and toss it back out, you must make the catch with the back of your hand, not by cradling it between your arm and body.
- Generally, batters don't use paddles. Only outfielders use paddles. But if you've got one or two players that are newer to Myachi, giving them a paddle when they're up to bat is a great way to handicap the game and keep it fair for everyone.
- A drop is a strike, not a ball. If you attempt a catch and miss it, it doesn't matter where the Myachi winds up, that's a strike. It's not a bunt, it's not a foul.
The strategy of whether to catch or kick will change throughout the game and it might even change during a single at-bat. Catching and throwing will allow you to be more accurate and exploit a hole in the opposing team's defense, but it also gives them more time to get ready. A kick is less accurate, but it tends to leave the defense scrambling a bit more.
Kicks are also much harder, so often a batter will attempt kicks until they have a couple of strikes and then they'll play it safe and go for the catch. This strategy can be effective, but it makes life easier on the pitcher, as he or she will then generally know what you're going to do and pitch accordingly.
PITCHING: The "Strike Zone" in Myachi Baseball is a bit lower than it is in traditional baseball. Since the kick is a genuine option, a pitcher can toss a Myachi much lower than they could with a baseball and still have a hittable pitch. When we played at the school, we used our "Myachi Golf" target to define the strike zone. A trashcan lying on one side would be about the right size for a strike zone... a hula hoop could work. Basically, you just have to clearly define a circle that sits low to the ground behind the batter.
This is really important unless you want to spend half the game arguing about whether that pitch was high or outside or what. If the batter doesn't swing (or touch the Myachi when he or she tries to catch), you can easily say if it was a ball or strike just based on whether it went through the hoop or landed in the trashcan or whatever.
I should note that in our game, we had Kid Myach pitching for both teams and if he'd wanted to, he could have pitched a no-hitter. If he'd really been rifling the Myachis in, we'd have been helpless. So to keep the game fun, you can add an "arc" rule (meaning the Myachi must travel in a curve rather than coming straight across) or you can back the pitcher way up so that they can't accurately pitch really fast shots. As weird as it might seem, if we were playing among Myachi Masters, we'd probably have the pitcher standing on 2nd base.
OUTFIELD: Basically this works exactly like it does in regular baseball, but there are a couple of important things that I felt like I needed to address. One is that outfielding in Myachi baseball is one of the very few times you can ever touch a Myachi with your palm during a Myachi game. Obviously, you can't catch with your palm since that would just about defeat the purpose of the game. If you're going after a fly ball, you still have to catch with the back of your hand or your paddle. And if your throwing to the infield, you still have to throw from the back of your hand or your paddle.
But the palm is acceptable if you're picking up a Myachi that has landed in the outfield. In fact, not only are you allowed to pick it up with your palm, but you can even toss it to a teammate from your palm in these instances if:
- You throw immediately (if you take a step or pause before throwing, you must move the Myachi to the back of your hand or your paddle before passing it) and
- You don't "set" the throw (meaning that your hand doesn't go back behind your shoulder to make the throw)
Palm throws are only allowed if you pick the Myachi up and throw it all in one motion and such throws should be arcing throws. The only reason this is allowed is because moving the Myachi from your palm to the back of your hand before a throw makes fielding take too long and gives the offense a huge advantage in the game, leading to scores of 11 to 14 in the second inning.
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Armed with just that info, a basic understanding of how to play baseball, a Myachi. a few paddles and a few friends, you're ready to play. If you have questions that I didn't cover in this post, feel free to leave them in the comments section and we'll get you taken care of.
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