Ichiro Is On The Verge Of Mariners History Again

There's something weird about franchise records. On the one hand, it's really cool to be the guy with the most innings or home runs or whatever while wearing a team's uniform. On the other hand, the Padres' all-time leader in home runs is someone named Nate Colbert. Franchise records aren't quite as impressive as other records.

But it's worth noting that Ichiro is on the verge of setting another Mariners record, which he could do at any moment. I'm pretty sure Ichiro owns so many Mariners franchise records that they're referred to as Mariners franchise Ichiros, but this next one - hits - is one of them big ones.

Excluding the playoffs, which is customary for some reason, Ichiro has 2,246 hits as a Mariner. Edgar Martinez is the franchise leader with 2,247. Including the playoffs separates the two by 19, instead of one, but that isn't how we do things here in America. Here in America, Ichiro is one hit away from tying Edgar's record, and two hits away from breaking it.

Below, I've calculated the odds that Ichiro breaks the record tonight:

(1) Will Ichiro play tonight? -- yes
(2) Is he facing a pitcher who is either left-handed or right-handed? -- yes
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Odds that Ichiro breaks franchise hits record tonight: -- 100%

So that's a cool thing. Another cool thing: today's date is April 2, 2011. Ichiro made his Major League debut on April 2, 2001. Given our fascination with nice round numbers, it would only add to the Ichiro legend if he were to set this record in exactly ten years. Incidentally, Edgar broke the old record on April 3, 2001. Weirrrd

And for those of you who're curious, Ichiro is 327 homers away from Griffey's mark in that category, so he might not break that one until June or July.