not a controversial opinion but i kinda want it heard so i'm QRTing this.

anyway.

i think coach kataoka should have never made miyuki the team captain, even with tetsu's recommendation. instead, it should've been kuramochi. and there's no point to having two vice-captains. https://twitter.com/kahzuyas/status/1253128938756411392

disclaimer: unfortunately, i cannot provide mangacaps/screencaps to further drive my points. all scenes mentioned below are recalled from memory. so please take this thread with a grain of salt.

for those who haven't read/watched oofuri (big windup!), abe (the main team's catcher) is made vice-captain while hanai (the cleanup) is made captain.

coach momoe initially wanted to place abe higher in the batting order (he's currently 8th). iirc, she also thought that he is cleanup material. but she ultimately decided against it because she wanted to take the pressure off abe since he's already the strategist.

yes, nishiura and seido are different. nishiura only has 10 members (all first years), seido has 94 (20 first string players). nishiura is a no-name, seido is a powerhouse. abe is a first year, miyuki is a third year. nishiura focused on the role of cleanup, seido on captaincy.

but that doesn't change the amount of pressure.

no, just because nishiura only has one pitcher and seido has more than three doesn't mean that the pressure is unbalanced (since there's more pitchers to focus/strategize on).

nishiura's battery needs to last the entire match because they are the only ones who have the skill to play those positions (reminder, there's only 10 of them). the pressure there is that they need to stay on the mound and behind the home plate until the final inning.

moving on.

if abe is cleanup, he also has to worry more about his batting.

if miyuki is captain, he also has to worry about leading/motivating the team.

because of momoe's decision, abe only has (2) roles instead of (3): vice-captain and catcher. not cleanup or higher in batting order.

miyuki has (3): captain, main catcher (who's also in-charge of the team's batteries, see: cram school), and cleanup.

yes, miyuki had character growth due to the nabe incident but that doesn't change the fact that there's still heavy pressure.

if miyuki is vice-captain, he has more time to focus on the batteries (see: nori's comment about how miyuki doesn't offer to catch for him anymore) and on himself as a cleanup (see: the team wondering about when does miyuki even have the time to practice his swings).

miyuki cannot not be the cleanup of the team and he has been the official starting catcher of seido since his first year. so the one pressuring position that has to go is his captaincy.

as seen in the near end of act i, kuramochi has taken to the role of stand-in captain naturally. despite the gang jokes, the team listens to him (compare: the start of miyuki's captaincy) and takes him seriously (see: eijun at the start of miyuki's captaincy).

kuramochi is also sociable with them (compare: miyuki initially tried to skip game nights) and can keep them in line when necessary (see: the entirety of eijun and his interference with the nabe incident, compare: miyuki can be an instigator).

when coach kataoka called kuramiyu + zono to announce who will be the next captain, kuramochi expected that kataoka chose him. not miyuki, but him. we could say that it's his ego.

but do you really think that kuramochi would assume that it's him instead of miyuki if he has the potential to be the captain? kuramochi respects miyuki's guts ever since they were first years so he would root for miyuki if he sees that he is a true leader.

(see: eijun initially called miyuki "leader-in-training".)

with kuramochi as captain, miyuki can have more breathing space. again, there's already a huge amount of pressure being both the starting catcher and the cleanup of the team.

kuramochi leads the team (he's the leadoff, heh) while miyuki supports the team (solidifying the lead as cleanup).

with kuramochi as captain and miyuki as vice-captain, zono doesn't need to be the other vice-captain. for three reasons.

one, he doesn't get along with miyuki (canon). two, he hasn't contributed at all to the morale of the team (eijun did most of the cheering/support and his batting doesn't reassure/uplift the team).

three, he cannot even be trusted by kuramochi due to his lack of tact and discretion (see: kuramochi approaching shirasu instead regarding miyuki's injury).

to be continued. i need a break, i can't compose anymore.