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.