Ichiro Suzuki’s baseball career is essentially over after the Mariners announced Thursday the 44-year-old is transitioning to a front office role with the team and won’t play again this season.
The door is still slightly open for Ichiro to return after 2018. And there’s good reason to believe we’ll see Ichiro play at least one more game, especially since the Mariners open the 2019 season with two games in his native Japan.
Should Ichiro suit up in the majors again, somewhat fittingly his opponent in Tokyo will be the Oakland A’s, against whom he began his career, enjoyed his breakthrough moment against (sorry, Terrence Long) and, finally, ended his 2018 season against Wednesday night.