When thinking of what made the Seibu Lions' quick resurgence from the fifth-place finish of the previous season possible, as well as the players' growth, manager Hisanobu Watanabe's presence played a big part in it.
The way he led the Saitama club to the Japan Series was simple, but something this country's pro baseball hadn't seen in Japanese managers.
The youngest NPB skipper at 43, Watanabe, who took the helm this season, abandoned the typical Japanese managerial method of scolding players for their mistakes and only tried to look at the bright aspects.