Monday was an off day while the Japan Series moved to Fukuoka, but there were two news items worth mentioning, NPB’s expected difficulty in adjusting its rules to meet players’ demands, and the Sawamura Award announcement.

Both the owners and the Sawamura committee are faced with a conundrum. Owners want people to think they care about the players’ legitimate demands, when they don’t give a rat’s ass.

On the other hand, the ace pitchers who make up the Sawmura committee want to express sympathy with the plight of starting pitchers in an era when pitch counts and deep bullpens have changed the job, without stating the obvious, that today’s pitchers have it much harder than they did.

Owners do the free agency run around

On Monday, the players union and NPB’s player relations committee, headed by Hiroshima Carp executive Kiyomi Suzuki met in a working group session over the issue of the players’ demand to reduce the service time needed to file for free agency.

“We have had 24 meetings but have been unable to reach an agreement on ways to relaxt the rules,” Suzuki said.

On Dec. 7, union chairman Tsubasa Aizawa said the existing system limits the way changes can be made and suggested this year that a petition to Japan’s Fair Trade Commission was a possibility, claiming that the rules, imposed by NPB 30 years ago, violate the antimonopoly act.

The SoftBank Hawks reached Japan’s season finale having won their last five regular-season games and their first three postseason games. They also started Game 1 at Yokohama Stadium with a 12-game Japan Series win streak dating back to 2018’s Game 3 against Hiroshima.

Former Texas Ranger Kohei Arihara, backed by the Hawks’ impressive defense, proved to be the difference in Saturday’s 5-3 Game 1 victory. Arihara drove in his first two runs as a pro to open the scoring against Andre Jackson, and SoftBank tacked on three more in the ninth before DeNA held Roberto Osuna’s feet to the fire in a three-run ninth.