Rating this gave me a hard time. That's probably because I didn't see as many baseball scenes in this drama as I'd wished for. I do get that it's more about the people's growth and how things might work in that industry. But seeing some more games to let me root for the players I've grown to like so much would have been nice.

Nonetheless, it was still a great drama with an awesome cast and plot. You can somewhat guess, where the story is going after watching the first episodes. A sports team, that loses all the time. Of course there must be some heavy problems, right? Baek Seung Soo (NGM) starts to root out the foul branches one by one. He persuades you that it can really work and you start to cheer for the team to get up again. But well, it's a drama afterall, so don't fool yourself. There are the higher ups who don't want him to succeed, no matter what. And so additional obstacles are spread just when you think everything runs fine.

Nam Goong Min is without doubt a terrifying actor. I always prefer the silent roles because they show the actors' real capability. Baek Seung Soo (NGM) was one kind of a silent character. He seems apathetic, not caring much but still determined to achieve his goal. By no means is he cold though. He has that little brother he's living with who is tied to a wheelchair, and you can see that Baek Seung Soo does care for his family. He's also smart, perceptive and cunning. I've only seen a few other characters who were as calculative as him and I'm happy that the writing and NGM's acting convinced me of these traits through and through. For example, whenever his character came up with his next move, he was of course faced with anger and a strong headwind. But he fought his battles with calmness and evidence based reasoning.

He takes most blows without complaint, instead he works on other ways to still get the results he needs. But when he's really, really pissed (or cornered or just overwhelmed), his nonchalant demeanor breaks for like two seconds and you discover his well hidden emotions. It might be glimpses, but NGM gives them a deep impact. It almost scares you how much he can bottle up and then release.

In the early episodes it seems as if he's just doing a job. Well, that might be true. But as time goes by, he realizes that there are other people, who are as determined as he is, and in a subtle way, he unintentionally creates bonds without knowing it. I kinda suspected from the beginning how his character would be wrapped up work-wise. Even though I might not have suspected anything at all about his growth as a person, something was expected nevertheless. Otherwise the drama would have failed its purpose.

The rest of the cast did good jobs themselves, they supported the leads very well. There was always enough back story to make their characters three-dimensional without giving too much side info. It was enough to either reassure you, so you can name your league of good people, or deceive you, to make surprising twists possible.

The alleged villain... Oh, well. You start from liking him to disliking to hating to... Let's say he's a difficult one. Of course, it gets explained why he's doing what he's doing. You just wish for him to break that damn cage, he's gotten himself into. He definitely grew as a person ultimately, but he still has a long road ahead.

What I found hard at times was to follow the technical jargon. I like baseball but I'm not an expert. While it makes sense for them to talk like that when they are surrounded by their people, it would have been nice if they had somehow made their evaluations more comprehensible. I want to cheer them on so badly, but how can I do that, when I only understand half of it.

The few baseball scenes were like honey. Even though there weren't that many, they did those really well and managed to show off a bit. I enjoyed them so much because they were a nice change of scenery (and I'm always in for a nice game).

Conclusion:
An overall powerful drama about a lone 'ranger', who stands tall, no matter what, who meets a defective baseball team that's in a real mess but opposes the unusual methods of their new general manager. Both sides surprise you in unexpected ways and will sweep you away with a new found team spirit.

So, don't miss out on this one ;)