In case you somehow missed it yesterday, the Seattle Mariners were unveiling a new statue at outside the ballpark — a shrine to Ichiro Suzuki, the Hall of Fame outfielder. It was a lovely day with tons of pomp and circumstance. But then disaster struck:

During the removal of the ceremonial… sheet… the bat — the focal point of ichiro’s iconic batting stance suddenly was no longer erect.

And the internet is having a field day with it.

Congrats on the Hall of Fame Ichiro, I’m sure that bronze bust will come out better

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Admittedly it is a bit of a quiet day in the baseball world, and Ichiro’s crowning achievement turned nationally visible blunder has me thinking about legacy.

Ichiro came to the states from Japan, already with a great national reputation in the Land of the Rising Sun. But he then forged a legacy worthy of remembrance in the Hall of Fame. And there were many who knew almost immediately he was destined for the honor.

So what better way to celebrate Ichiro than to try and identify the next one. The next guy early in their career destined for eternity in Cooperstown.

I’m gonna give my 3 picks, but to make it a real challenge: each player will be Over 24 (Ichiro was 27 when he entered the league) but Under 30 (no cemented legacy) and never have won a major award (RoY, Cy Young, MVP) before at the big league level

Let’s dig in by outlining who WOULD have been on the list but won’t meet our parameters:

Too young and too recognized: Paul Skenes, Gunnar Henderson, Nick Kurtz

Too young: Konnor Griffin, Elly De La Cruz, Junior Caminero

Too awarded: Ronald Acuna, Julio Rodriguez, Shohei Ohtani, Corbin Carroll, Tarik Skubal

That rules out MANY of the best candidates, and makes for a near impossible needle-threading

Pick #3: Mason Miller
Mason Miller is never going to have the raw amount of saves to get into the Hall of Fame. He’s already in his age 28 season, and only has 54 saves to his credit.

But I do think that in 15, 25, 50 years we will look back on the 2020’s and know that Mason Miller was the most dominant closer of the era.

He is the head of the best bullpen in baseball, he throws upwards of 104 mph, he has multiple seasons with ERA’s in the 2’s already. Soon he might have one that is sub-1. In fact, I think he’s worth the current 80-1 or 100-1 you can get out there for the NL Cy Young right now

Finding a 3rd player that even fits into this narrow set of rules was damn near impossible. But he is a FREAK. And I want my piece in recognizing that.

Pick #2 Bobby Witt Jr

Witt is entering his age 26 season and “only” has 105 HR. But he already has 22.5 WAR and he’s pacing to easily be a 300 × 300 player by the time he hangs up the spikes.

He already has 2 Gold Gloves to his name, and I think if he adds 5 of those bad boys on top of being a 40+ Win and 300×300 Club player — one of only 9 ever.

I’ll be rooting for Bobby to get there. He’s the best old school player we have going right now.

Pick #1: Juan Soto

How the hell has this dude never won one of the major awards? He is 27 years old and already has 43.2 WAR.

He has 245 HR, is an on base menace, has a World Series Ring, and still has the juice to push to 450+ HR, has the eye that can keep him as a .400 OBP guy well into his 30’s, and can probably reach 2500 hits too.

He’s as close to a lock as one can get to Cooperstown as a 27 year old without an MVP or RotY (s/o his 2 runner up and two 3rd place finishes)

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In the first 2 weeks of the MLB season, there isn’t quite another just like the AL West.

It’s presumptive favorite has the worst record in the sport, the other 4 are all within a game and a half of each other, and it’s the only division in baseball that doesn’t have a single team with over a 10 run differential in either direction (at the time of publication). In fact it’s the only one without TWO such teams.

Let’s dive in:

1st Place - Texas Rangers (7-5 and tied with the Dodgers too late for me)

Nimmo acquisition is paying dividense as he’s essentially the only piece of this offense working as intended right now. They only have 48 runs on the season which is bottom 10 in the sport, but thankfully for them — their bullpen is SHOVING.

That was the main question I had about this team coming into the season, if that unit could hold up. Four relievers with 5+ appearances have still yet to surrender a run, and two more have only allowed a single Earned.

Leiter continues to grow into his pedigree and maybe this team can keep it up.

2nd Place - Los Angeles Angels (7-7)

This is a FUN team. Not only just because Jorge Soler throws haymakers because Trout is having a rebirth, and Jose Soriano has turned into a Cy Young candidate — but because I really can’t explain otherwise how this could possibly be a .500 team

They only kind of hit — they have only one hitter with an OPS even in the .800s, but they’re 3rd in Home Runs.

They only kind of pitch — they have an Ace with an ERA of 0.45 and their 4 main bullpen arms with 26 combined innings and only 5 ER … but not a single other starter has an ERA better than 4.60

What will they be? Probably not good. But it’s the PERFECT Wild Wild West Wild Card team (and I don’t mean playoffs wild card).

3rd Place — A’s (6-7)

This team started 2-6, and has turned it around of late. But they’re still not really hitting, but now the pitching is coming around. They’ve posted back to back shutouts against the Yankees and Mets, two of the better offenses in the sport.

But I think the fact that they’re still not hitting is actually why the arrow might be pointed up. Langeliers is awesome and new Max Muncy is doing fun things early too.

But if eventually Kurtz, Rooker, Soderstrom, and Butler will experience positive regression into their normal selves.

If they can hold on as a .500 team until that happens? They’ll be ready for the push

4th Place — Houston Astros (6-8)

Whatever you want to call the Angels — the Astros are that on steroids. They’ve scored 85 runs (far and away most in MLB) and they’ve allowed 87 runs (also the most in MLB, but not far and away due to the Nationals sucking).

They have 3 OPS over 1.000 and 4 pitchers with double digit ERA’s

This team is the cocaine bear of the MLB, and I have no idea if this runaway train is stopping anytime soon.

5th Place — Seattle Mariners (5-9)

If this team ever hits they’ll be dangerous. Prior to Friday night’s 9 spot victory over Houston they were mired in a BAD way.

From 3/30 until 4/9 they played 9 games and only scored 18 runs.

Naylor and Raleigh STILL are not hitting with OPS in the .200 and .400’s

But if nothing else the rotation and bullpen are EXACTLY as good as you think they are.

The team hasn’t even scored 50 runs this season, and they STILL have a positive run differential 4 games under .500

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The Brewers broke out their City Connect Jerseys today, but more importantly the jerseys blossomed an all timer

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I will always celebrate this man’s downfall

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If you had this one before the season started, you are either stupid or a liar

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Padres continue to just be menaces to bullpens everywhere with yet ANOTHER walk-off W.

Fuck you Elon

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And before they got walked off, the Rockies pulled off the perfect baseball

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Have a great day everybody