A source has told Jim Allen of Kyodo News that Ichiro Suzuki has told the Seattle Mariners that he intends to retire after the Mariners-Athletics game currently underway in Tokyo. UPDATE: ESPN has confirmed the report and announced it during the Mariners-A’s broadcast.
While it was suspected that Ichiro’s intention was to only play the two games in the Japan Series and not remain with the Mariners once the regular season heads back to the United States, this is the first word we’ve heard that he does, in fact, plan to do that.
We’ll obviously have more on this later today if and when Ichiro does, in fact, make such an announcement publicly.