SEATTLE -- The player-intro ovation echoed at a level loud enough to sound like a regular-season game, if not more. Yet this was a mid-week, mid-afternoon, split-squad scrimmage with roughly 5,000 fans, far more akin to the atmosphere found at Spring Training.

Those elevated sound waves? That’s the Ichiro effect, people.

Indeed, the Mariners’ icon and 2025 National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee took part in Wednesday’s simulation that represented a tuneup for Seattle ahead of the American League Division Series, as Ichiro Suzuki suited up for the "home" team for the six-inning contest at T-Mobile Park. And yes, he played the entire game.

Ichiro -- on the 21st anniversary of the night he broke the single-season hit record -- donned the Mariners’ full white uniforms, to go with his s

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