TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Seibu Lions pitcher and seven-time Golden Glove winner Daisuke Matsuzaka will retire after this season, ending a 23-year playing career that included an eight-year stint in the major leagues, the Pacific League team said Wednesday.
The 40-year-old Tokyo native, who helped the Boston Red Sox win a World Series championship in his rookie MLB season in 2007, made his comeback to Nippon Professional Baseball in 2015 but struggled to recover from a cervical spine surgery he had last year.