Goddamn. At this point, it's better to have the Ace Number to Kawakami than Furuya. If Terajima built this kind of improvement to Sawamura only for him to fall short of the Ace Number to Furuya, it's better to see it Kawakami have it than Furuya.
However, I can see Ochiai's point of view in all of this. Sawamura is, by far, the most improved pitcher of all pitcher in - universe (except for those off cam pitchers) when facing a steep mountain to climb or adversity. But the question remains; how will Sawamura feels about that kind of decision after all of the hard work that he has been doing so far?
Tough decision for sure but IMO Sawamura is better in carrying himself once pressure or something to shoulder is put onto him. He has been in a lot of situation where the game is on the line (except for the outcome of the game against Inajitsu). Give. The. Ace. Number. To. Sawamura.