●Nathan Shiga: November 4

A legendary Japanese ballplayer is left of out the active list of the Florida Marlins next season and still has his mind set to go on playing at age 44: Ichiro Suzuki, the one-and-only hitting machine from Japan who has set a number of batting records in the major league baseball.

Now in his 17th season in the game, Ichiro has played for the Mariners, the Yankees and lately for the Florida Marlins since 2015. His contract with the Marlins was for one year at $2 million (¥230 thousand) per annum but the team has chosen to let him go next season.

Throughout this season Ichiro was a reserve outfielder pinch-hitting in 109 of the 136 games he played. He averaged 2.55 – the lowest batting percentage in his MLB years. The consolation was he has one more to go to break the MLB record in pinch-hitting.

The irony is that the Marlins’ new owner is a member of the investment group made, among others, by Derek Jeter, Ichiro’s playmate at the Yankees.

Ichiro, now a free agent, vows to keep on playing at age 44 and looks for a new team to play in the next season. Great if the Seattle Mariners could step forward to offer him what seems to be the ultimate stage of his brilliant career.

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