The Seattle Mariners will open up the 2019 regular season against the Oakland A’s in Japan … this Thursday at 4:35 am CT. Indeed, MLB has been pushing these international showcase games a lot lately, and this is one of them.
But the exciting news is that when the Mariners open up the 2019 season, they’ll do so with a 45-year-old Ichiro Suzuki on the active roster. In fact, earlier today, MLB.com reported that Ichiro won’t just be on the active roster this Thursday, he’s going to start on Opening Day! And when that game begins, he’ll be the oldest player to start on Opening Day since Julio Franco – 78 days older, at the time – started for the Braves on Opening Day 2004.
But don’t let Ichiro’s age fool you. He’s already said he wants to play until he’s at least 50 years old and by the looks of this absolute ROCKET he just unleashed from right field in an overseas Spring Training/exhibition contest, he is still 100% ready to go:
https://twitter.com/Mariners/status/1107654108930965504
Yo. You can STILL not run on Ichiro (I love how the third baseman just stands up in total disbelief – like, “Did he really just …?”).
Obviously, Ichiro’s prowess at the plate is going to be the greatest part of his legacy – depending on what games you count, he’s already the World’s hit king – but his arm has always been insane.
I mean, this throw from April 2001 is about as iconic as throws from right field get:
Ichiro, man, he’s always been unbelievulous.
Ichiro ready to try new things in the outfield
(Via @MLB)pic.twitter.com/mFCFlYo1RQ
— Bleacher Report MLB (@BR_MLB) March 16, 2019