As long as he's healthy, Ichiro Suzuki will play for the Mariners against the A's in Japan to open the 2019 regular season, general manager Jerry Dipoto announced on Monday.
The Mariners play a two-game series on March 20–21 and the teams can carry 28–man rosters before returning to United States.
"I would stop short of guaranteeing it, because we have to make sure he's healthy. But he'll be on our roster," Dipoto said. "We feel strongly that it's the right thing to do for our franchise and the right thing to do for the NPB and believe it's the right thing to do for Ichiro.