Yet, there are always exceptions--always someone new who comes in and seems to make a mockery of the established pecking order.
If Hawks rookie Hayato Terahara or Lions ace Daisuke Matsuzaka throws two straight shutouts, it's taken as confirmation of the greatness we expect from them. But when the perpetrator is Hayato Nakamura or Takashi Aiki, the first impulse is to write it off as a curiosity.
Last year, Nakamura was the proverbial flash in the pan. But his spark was easily overlooked with Nippon Ham already out of the frying pan and well on the way to its rendezvous with the fire.
Since his debut, Nakamura has become better known for 1) the best sideburns in the Pacific League and 2) not being able to win indoors.
Perhaps to turn things around this year, he changed the name on his uniform to Hayato, so as not to be confused with fellow Fighter Yutaka Nakamura.
And things have changed. Hayato has shown he can win indoors--a good thing if your home park is Tokyo Dome. As a result of his continued success, if not brilliance, the 26-year-old was named to this year's PL All-Star team.
Unfortunately, his berth in the summer series cost him his trademark: Yasunori Oshima, the Fighters humorless manager, ordered Nakamura to shave off the offending whiskers prior to his July premier.
OK. Let's be fair to Oshima. Earlier in the year, he had a good laugh when Fighters starter Carlos Mirabal was struck by a line drive for the third time within the span of a few weeks. So he's not entirely without.
Sideburned or not, Nakamura is motoring along with one complete game under his belt, but no shutouts and a 6-5 record.
Last week, Aiki, a 24-year-old sliver of a right-hander who pitches for the Orix BlueWave, also threw his second straight shutout.
Last Sunday, the BlueWave continued the streak of zeros in games Aiki pitched, unfortunately for Orix, the zeros were on the visitors' side at Seibu Dome, put there by Lions veteran Fumiya Nishiguchi.
Aiki began his scoreless streak after surrendering two runs in his final inning of his PL debut on July 21--a no decision at Fukuoka Dome. He then tossed the 18 innings needed for a pair of shutouts on July 28 against the Buffaloes and Aug. 4 against the Marines.
Alex Cabrera's two-run homer in the first inning last Sunday ended Aiki's bid for No. 3.
Before Sunday's game, BlueWave infielder Scott Sheldon said Aiki had impressed him with his composure on the mound.
"He's not intimidated at all," said Sheldon. "He's not afraid to throw strikes, so he gets a lot of ground balls which is good for me."
Aiki, who doesn't look anywhere close to his 24 years, seems completely unfazed by his sudden success.
"It's like he doesn't really know how tough things can be in the pros," said team official Naoki Yoshida.
"This is his first time to face the Lions and his first time at Seibu Dome. And when we got here, he's like, 'Oh so this is what Seibu Dome is like.' And when we check into the hotel, it's, 'So this is the kind of place we stay.'"
So while Aiki was tasting defeat for the first time as a pro, Nishiguchi's victory might have provided another clue to life as a pro.
It would be hard to find one pitcher who has been as good as Nishiguchi over the past seven years, but shutout on Sunday was his first in league play in two years.
It was also just the seventh shutout for the 30-year-old with an 86-74 career record. So if Nishiguchi can manage just seven, Aiki better realize that his own accomplishments were not only special but something that involved a good deal of luck.
Obviously, if one looks at Nishiguchi's career, you realize two straight shutouts is not something that is just going to happen if you pitch long enough.
Nishiguchi has seven, but not for want of trying. After all, former Lions manager Osamu Higashio often seemed willing to let Nishiguchi throw an inhuman number of pitches in pursuit of complete games
And while Nakamura and Aiki have shown that they can make it look easy for brief stretches, the real question is whether they can, like Nishiguchi has been, be successful over the long haul.
The Hot Corner appears each Thursday in The
Daily Yomiuri .