Ichiro Suzuki was one of the faces of baseball during the 2000s after making the jump from the Japanese League to join the Seattle Mariners, paving the

Roki Sasaki could be the greatest Japanese pitcher ever. He hopes the Dodgers can turn him into just that, even if it means Shohei Ohtani outshines him.

Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball, but he’s much more than that in Japan. Back home, he’s a wellspring of national pride, much like Shohei Ohtani now. His triumphs across the Pacific buoyed the nation as Japan’s economy sputtered through the so-called lost decades of the 1990s and into the 2000s.

On April 2, 2001, Bret Boone jogged to second base for a chilly Opening Day in Seattle. The roof at Safeco Field was open, the upstart Oakland Athletics were in town, and ESPN2 had the national broadcast. Boone was preparing for the first pitch of his 10th season when second base umpire Kerwin Danley called his name.

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers have signed international free agent right-handed pitcher Roki Sasaki. Sasaki, 23, joins the Dodgers after spending the last four seasons with the Chiba Lotte Mariners of the Nippon Professional Baseball league.

Yankees legend Hideki Matsui played seven seasons for the Yankees. It wasn’t until his final one, in 2009, with the addition of lefty ace CC Sabathia, that he managed to get that elusive World Series ring.

The Dodgers are introducing newly-signed Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki in a press conference at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday, January 22, which will be televised by SportsNet LA.

An all-time international baseball icon will get his day in the Cooperstown sun this July, alongside pitchers CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.

Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball, but he's much more than that in Japan. Back home, he's a wellspring of national pride.

Ichiro will go into the Hall of Fame as professional baseball’s all-time leader in hits with 4,367 (3,089 in MLB and 1,278 in Japan) — more even than Pete Rose’s 4,256. He broke George Sisler’s single-season hits mark of 257 in 2004. The new mark is 262.

Right-handed pitcher Hideo Nomo preceded him ... manga and others creations from Japan. “It may not be an exaggeration to say that Ichiro represents Japan’s transition from the faceless ...