Morning Toss — April 20, 2017
Ichiro shines what could be his farewell to Seattle, Addison Russell flexes his muscles to a Cubs win, and baseball remains exciting as we enter the league’s third weekend of the season.
Professional baseball’s all-time Hit King Ichiro has played in Major League Baseball for 17 years now, and his pro career dating back to Japan spans a quarter of a century. In this time, baseball fans across the globe have been treated to not only perhaps the greatest pure hitter the game has ever known, but also one of world history’s greatest athletes.
If you think that’s a bold take, you haven’t paid attention all these years.
Now 43 years old, any season Ichiro plays could be his last. Sure, he mused that he’ll play until he’s dead on the heels of Opening Day, and frankly, none of us have any reason to think he’s incapable of that. But realistically, Ichiro can throw in the towel at any point and hang his cleats on the fact that he’s without question one of the greatest to ever play baseball.
All of this is relevant because, if Ichiro decides to call it a day at the end of the 2017 season, our Hit King may have played out his denouement Wednesday in his return to Safeco Field in Seattle, where he manned right field for the Mariners in the best years of his American career.
In the top of the ninth inning of a 10–4 Mariners blowout over the Marlins, Ichiro led off the frame and socked the first pitch he saw into the right field stands for a solo home run, much to the thrill of the few Mariners fans who decided against leaving early to beat traffic. It was the perfect crescendo to one player’s illustrious history in a place, and it was wonderful.
Even if Ichiro plays a few more seasons, Miami traveling to Seattle is a rarity in itself; the National League East plays American League West teams every three years, and if the Mariners and Marlins do square off at that time, there’s a 50/50 chance it’ll be at Safeco or Marlins Park. Sure, Ichiro may not even be on the Marlins, and he may not even be playing anymore.
That’s what made Wednesday’s home run so magnificent. Even if it wasn’t the last time he sets foot on the grounds of Safeco Field as a player, it got opposing fans and fans of baseball in general excited about its greatest legacy player on an active roster. The kind of thing you just can’t script.
Call of the Night
For the sake of diversity in content, and given that I already added video of Ichiro’s dinger in Seattle above, I’ll go a different direction for this one.
The Chicago Cubs have struggled a bit out of the gate, leading to an absurd amount of widespread panic among the Cubs faithful. They came into play Wednesday 7–7, behind overachieving Reds and Brewers teams but on the heels of an impressive 9–7 win Tuesday night.
It should be evident the Cubs would not begin their 2017 campaign 25–6 like they did the previous year; there’s a reason why such a start was significant in the first place, as no team had played so well in their first 30 games since the 1984 Detroit Tigers. But indeed, winning a title has not healed all wounds, as concerns of the team’s direction have been loud and evident.
With one swing of the bat, those concerns were calmed, at least for one travel cycle as the team heads to Cincinnati. In a 4–4 tie in the bottom of the ninth, in a game in which the Cubs trailed 4–1, Carl Edwards Jr. — pinch running for Miguel Montero — and Kris Bryant were on first and second with two outs. Addison Russell, who has been the victim of a ton of loud outs and has shown improvement in his approach, dug in to win the game.
The Cubs just needed a bloop or a screamer down the line to bring home Edwards. Russell did them two better, launching a no-doubter into the left field stands for a walk-off three-run blast. This home run also featured an excellent bat flip, putting an exclamation point on the shot.
Cubs TV play-by-play man Len Kasper is on the call for WGN Sports.
Starting Rotation
- The big off-field story of the week has been Starling Marte testing positive for performance enhancing drugs, and being suspended for 80 games. Joe Sheehan of FanGraphs looks at homers in the PED testing era.
- Another from FanGraphs: Dave Cameron profiles one of baseball’s most understated hitters, and how he’s added slugging to his game.
- RO Baseball’s very own Alex Alvarado shares his thoughts on something many of us here share: ignoring the pitcher win.
- CBS Sports’ R.J. Anderson says that while we may have noticed the Texas Rangers’ bullpen woes, their offense is the real problem.
- If you like keeping up on prospects, Vince Lara-Cinisomo published his latest prospect report for Baseball America today.
The Day Ahead — Games to Watch
- Indians @ Twins, 1:10 PM ET. Two 7–7 teams duking it out in a division featuring two other teams with the same record. It’s going to be interesting to see the AL Central begin to open up a little more, and that could start with whoever wins — and loses — this afternoon showcase.
- Orioles @ Reds, 7:10 PM ET. Lol. I did not see this as a matchup I would be feature, but here we are. We will be treated to a riveting pitcher’s duel between Wade Miley and Scott Feldman, as the 9–4 Orioles look to stay atop the AL East by defeating the 9–6 Reds.
- Cardinals @ Brewers, 8:10 PM ET. Are the 6–9 Cardinals finding their way? Are the 8–8 Brewers actually a legitimate threat? This weekend set could give us a decent indicator of who each team really is, and that all kicks off tonight at Miller Park.
- Mariners @ A’s, 10:05 PM ET. I made fun of the Mariners a lot in my last writing, but they seem to be figuring everything out, now with a 7–9 mark on the season. They face the 7–8 A’s. It may seem underwhelming and mediocre, but these two equals could make for compelling late baseball.
