 Today's Trending Topics from eslgold.com. Now you can be part of the conversation. We're here to help you know what to talk about, understand what people are saying, bring your speaking skills to the next level. Okay, let's get started. What's everybody talking about these days? What's trending? What do you need to know about the topic? What do you want to say about it? How do you say it? Ready? Today's topic is... Da-da-da-da! O-tani. Who? What? How? Shohei O-tani. Or in Japanese, O-tani Shohei. A famous baseball player from Japan who is a pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels. I'm a big fan. Let's learn more. What do you need to know about Mr. O-tani? What's trending? In the news about him. Why is he so famous? What are people saying about him? What's his background? Well, what do you know? Why is Mr. O-tani famous? A. He is the first Japanese player on a US MLB team. He is the first All-Star player born outside of the US. He is the first two-way sensation in All-Star history. He is the first left-handed hitter in baseball history. The answer is C. He is the first two-way sensation in All-Star history. Wow, that says a lot about Shohei O-tani. Let's break it down. What is the All-Star game, or ASG for short? This is where the best of the best players from all the teams in the league come together to play an exhibition game, which means it doesn't count, it's just done for fun in the middle of the summer. What is a two-way sensation? A sensation is someone who's amazing at what he or she does. For example, a singing sensation can be someone who sings amazingly well. In baseball, a two-way sensation is someone who can play two positions amazingly well. Why is this a major accomplishment for O-tani? Because he's the first player in history to do this. What else has he achieved? Well, he tied the season home run record for Japanese players on a US MLB team. Note, this video was made on July 5, 2021, a week before the All-Star game. O-tani may still break even more records. To have a good conversation, what else do you need to know about baseball? What are the positions? How do you play the game? When, where, and why is it popular? Baseball player positions. Which of the following is not a position on a baseball team? Pitcher Catcher Shortstock First baseman Second baseman Third baseman Right fielder Left fielder Center fielder Shortstock The position is called shortstock, and it's one word, not shortstock. Why do they have this position? Well, most right-handed hitters hit the ball into left field, so they need an extra player in that position between second and third base to catch the ball. How do you play the game? We won't go into all the rules here. You can see our links at eslgold.com for more information. Basically, one team hits the ball with a bat, and the other team needs to catch the ball or the hitters before they run to all three bases and back home. Teams score one point for each of their hitters or runners who makes it all the way around the bases without getting caught. For more information, see eslgold.com slash how baseball works. When and where is the game played? The baseball season in the U.S. is from April to October, and many large cities have professional major league baseball teams. Baseball is also played professionally in which of the following places? Check all the places that apply. Japan, Taiwan, Canada, South Korea, Dominican Republic, and Cuba. These countries all have professional baseball teams. What are some common terms used with baseball? Here are some vocabulary words and terms, and some idioms. Let's start with the first one. Stadium. This is the arena or the place where the baseball game is played. It consists of a field, sometimes we call it a diamond because the bases are arranged in a diamond shape, and it's where the fans can sit up in the stands and cheer on their team. A related idiom is in the ballpark, or a ballpark figure, which means a close estimate. Not exact, but it's close enough as an estimate of something. A run. A run is when a player hits the ball and makes it all the way around the bases. Now, sometimes he only makes it to one base at a time, and someone else has to hit the ball for him to continue. But if the batter hits the ball so far away that he can run all the way around the bases and back home, that's called hitting a home run. An out. This is a mistake that counts against the team. Sometimes a player may have an out by missing the ball three times when it's pitched or thrown to him. That's called strike out. The next one, be up. That means it's your turn. You're in position ready to go. Another idiom is right off the bat. That means immediately after something happens. Immediately after the ball is hit, it's right off the bat. Inning. This is one segment of play. There are nine total innings in a baseball game. Basically in an inning you have a chance to score and make as many runs as you can before the other team catches you in three mistakes. Another idiom is get to first base. That means you reach or achieve a milestone on the way to a greater goal. Watch the video to the very end and we'll have a bonus idiom for you. What can you say when talking about baseball? First, bringing up the topic. You can say things like this. Did you see the game on Saturday? What did you think of Otani's home run? How about those cubs? This is an old expression. It just means let's talk about our home team. It doesn't have to be the cubs. It could be the Tigers or the Reds or the Astros or something like that. Making comments after you've watched the game, sometimes you come together and talk to people about it. If it was a great game, you can say, what a game. That was amazing. And you can talk about specific details. I like the way Otani made it look so easy. If you had a terrible game and it was disappointing, your team lost, you can say something like this. I can't believe that we lost. That was awful. That was the worst game I've ever seen. Be in the know about baseball. Can you answer some of these questions about your home team or about baseball in general? Who? Who are some of the famous players? Dave Ruth, Alex Rodriguez, Jackie Robinson, any others that you know? What? You can talk about the equipment, for example, baseball, bat, glove or mitt. Base that's part of the field. Uniform. Cap. Note that we never say baseball hat. We always say baseball cap. It's a special kind of thing that you wear on your head that has a visor. And a visor is the thing that sticks out in front to protect the players from the sun when they're looking up in the sky, maybe to see where the ball is. When? When's the baseball season? It's a summer sport. When are the games? Where? Stadium, park. What about your local teams? Where do they play? Why? This is America's past time. It's America's most famous sport. It was developed here. It has a lot of history and traditions. How? Do you know the rules of the game? Check out our video to learn more about how to play the game. Okay, it's conversation time. If you're not sure, you can ask someone what these things mean. These are good conversation starters. Conversation questions is a good way to get a conversation going. Or you can tell someone what you understand about these items. Summarize them to someone else to increase your conversation skills. More talking points. A tip for conversations is try to make it local. For example, if you live in the Toronto area, know something about the team, the Toronto Blue Jays. To have a good conversation, you'd need knowledge and preparation. For example, if you want to talk about your local team, you need to know the following. Who are the most famous players? Who are the teams in your area? Why are they famous? How is your local team performing this year? What's their win-loss record? Are they winning more games or losing more games? What are the team's prospects or expectations for the future? Have a conversation about things like this. Talk to your colleagues, your friends, your classmates. You don't have to be perfect. Just talk about whatever you'd like to that's related to the baseball team or the other sports teams in your area. Some additional information about baseball. There are lots of movies and songs about the sport. Some of the most famous ones are Moneyball, Bull Durham, and the Bad News Bears. Some songs about baseball take me out to the ball game, Centerfield, The Greatest, Trivia or Fun Facts. You can go to the MLB website and learn Trivia about the game. Merchandise, if you'd like to purchase things about baseball or a particular team, you can check our links below and find things like baseball caps and t-shirts and things like that. So are you ready to talk? What do you know about Shohei Otani? Are you a big fan? How about those Cubs, Giants, Rays, your local team? Take some time to talk with your friends about baseball or a sport in your area. I promised a bonus idiom. Here it is. Throw someone a curveball. A curveball is an unexpected challenge. For example, the pitcher threw the batter a curveball and the batter hit a home run. An example outside of baseball, the boss threw me a curveball when she asked me to explain our performance at tomorrow's board meeting. Hope that was helpful and interesting. If you liked the video and learned from it, please give us a thumbs up in the comments section below. And please remember to subscribe to our channel. And don't forget to check out the description below where you can see links to our sponsors and get baseball memorabilia and merchandise. Thanks for watching. In the future we'll be making more of these types of videos on trending topics and how to talk about them. If you have ideas for our next video, please send them to us at eslgoal.com slash submit question.