Probably the coolest story of the MLB offseason was Ichiro Suzuki signing a one-year deal to return to the Seattle Mariners.
The 44-year-old — who sounds serious about trying to play until he’s 50 — spent the first 11 and a half years of his MLB career with Seattle. It’s where the future Hall of Famer won the 2001 AL MVP, was named to 10 All-Star Games, won 10 Gold Gloves, and collected 2,533 of his 3,080 career hits.
And on Thursday night, Ichiro made his return to Safeco Field for the Mariners’ Opening Day. The Mariners’ fans made sure to make it a very special welcome back for their longtime star.
https://twitter.com/GregJohnsMLB/status/979538621886742528
The return of Ichiro also meant the return of the Ichimeter.
Ready to change some numbers! #GoMariners #Ichiro pic.twitter.com/Ja3UCWZers
— Amy Franz (@ichimeterlady) March 29, 2018
Ichiro started in left field and went 0-for-2, but who cares; this was his night. And the Mariners won 2-1 anyway, with the two runs coming on this moonshot dinger from Nelson Cruz against Corey Kluber in the first inning (the ESPN camera couldn’t even keep track of this one):
