With the NPB season nearly over ¡ª no team has more than 16 games left ¡ª it¡¯s almost time for the group of retired pitchers who vote on the Sawamura Award to sit down and have a chat.
When they finish lamenting that none of today¡¯s pitchers are as good as they were, it will be time to sift through the candidates for this year¡¯s award. With no pitcher really standing head and shoulders above the rest, it could be a lengthy discussion.
To be fair, they don¡¯t have to pick anyone. That happened in 1971, 1980, 1984 and, most recently, 2000. They could also throw a curveball and choose co-winners, as in 1966 and 2003.
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