36-year old lefty swinging OF Ichiro Suzuki finished in 9th place for the MVP Award in the A.L. He played in 146 games for the Mariners last season and he was 225 for 639 (.352 avg, .851 OPS) with 88 runs scored, 11 homers, 46 RBIs and 26 stolen bases. He has now played 9 years for the Mariners in which he is 2,030 for 6,099 (.333 avg, .811 OPS) with 973 runs scored, 84 homers, 515 RBIs and 341 stolen bases. Ichiro is the second best leadoff hitter I have ever seen behind only Rickey Henderson and there is no reason to think he will slow down any time soon.

36-year old righty swinging 1B/DH Mike Sweeney has really made the most of his playing time with the Mariners. He has played in 69 games for the Mariners this season and he is 64 for 228 (.281 avg, .774 OPS) with 23 runs scored, 7 homers and 30 RBIs. The Mariners would probably bring Sweeney back next season unless he gets a good offer from another team.

The Mariners always knew that Jose Lopez was a good hitter but this season he’s hitting with more power and the Mariners needed that. Lopez has played in 141 games for the Mariners this season and he is 151 for 563 (.268 avg, .766 OPS) with 65 runs scored, 24 homers and 91 RBIs. Lopez is just entering his prime so he could even hit for more power next season for the Mariners.

Russell Branyan wants to return to the Mariners next season but also this season as he is recovering from a back injury. 33-year old lefty swinging 1B Russell Branyan has played in 116 games for the Mariners this season and he is 108 for 431 (.251 avg, .867 OPS) with 64 runs scored, 31 homers and 76 RBIs. His weakness is whiffing as he has K’d 149 times this season. But for the power he produces you can live with the strikeouts. The Mariners would be smart to bring back Branyan next season.

The Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki has now done something no other major league baseball player has ever accomplished.  On Sunday when Ichiro got his 200th hit of the 2009 season, it made it nine consecutive seasons for Ichiro with at least 200 hits, a feat no one else has reached.  Ichiro was tied with old time player Willie Keeler, who had eight consecutive 200 hit seasons from 1894-1901.  Ichiro now has 2,005 career hits in just nine seasons and it makes you wonder whether Ichiro would have threatened Pete Rose’s all-time hits mark of 4,256 had he came to MLB in the beginning of his career.  While playing in the Japanese baseball league from 1992-2000, Ichiro collected 1,278 hits.