Hideo Nomo end of the year, Nomo returned to the Dodgers, in , and ended up having his best season since 1996, finished with a 16–6, 193 K, and 3.39 ERA. The following year, he had another great season, going 16–13 with 177 K and a 3.09 ERA. During September , however, he began showing signs of injury and fatigue. Nomo began to struggle again in . After undergoing shoulder surgery in October 2003, he was benched after going 4–11 with an 8.25 ERA for the Dodgers (the worst ERA in the history of baseball for a player with at least 15
Eiji Sawamura Award only Central League pitchers were eligible to win the award from (the first year the NPB employed the current two-league format) to . The first pitcher to be bestowed the honors from the Pacific League was Hideo Nomo for the Kintetsu Buffaloes in . No pitcher was found to be sufficiently deserving of the award in , , , and . The award has been presented to two pitchers in the same season twice (, ). While it is sometimes assumed that the award was introduced following the creation of the Cy Young Award in Major League Baseball, the Cy