Daisuke Matsuzaka, aka “The monster of Heisei era” stepped on the mound for the last time in his professional career. His last at mound ended only with 5 balls (1 strike and 4 balls) in the first inning. In 1999, he joined Seibu as a professional player, and after MLB, he ended his career with SoftBank, Chunichi, and the return to Seibu again for the 23rd season. He talked about the reason for his decision to retire, his gratitude to his family, and his thoughts on the Matsuzaka generation without regret during the retirement press conference after the game. There was also a scene to shed tears.
When Matsuzaka was asked what the number one reason for retirement was, he answered as below:
“Numbness in the right hand. In early spring last year, the numbness on the right side was very strong, and I managed to throw it in the middle of it. During the Corona pandemic, there was an emergency declaration, and the symptoms worsened while training and treatment were no longer intact. I didn’t want to have surgery, but I decided to have surgery because I couldn’t sleep because of neck pain and numbness every day. I spent a lot of time in rehabilitation, but my symptoms did not improve.”
During his career in NPB, he had the most win of the seasons 3 times, the best ERA of the season twice, and most strikeouts of the season 4 times. He was also named MVP of WBC twice.