Hisashi Iwakuma gave the Tohoku Rakuten faithful something to smile about and Yomiuri's Alex Ramirez received a well-deserved consolation prize as Nippon Professional Baseball announced its MVP award winners at a Tokyo hotel on Friday afternoon.
Iwakuma was named the Pacific League MVP during the awards ceremony after putting up career numbers for the fifth-place Eagles.
"I was selected for the Most Valuable Player, although I was on the team that missed the championships," Iwakuma said. "I appreciate that they chose me.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.