Ichiro with 4,000 Career Hits in Pro Baseball

One of the most accomplished hitters today reaches a milestone that involves careers on two different continents.

With a single to left off of the Blue Jay's pitcher R.A. Dickey, Ichiro Suzuki now has 4,000 career hits in the highest levels of professional baseball. This mark goes back to when he debuted in Nippon Professional Baseball in 1992. As for how many hits he has playing Major League Baseball, Ichiro now has 2722 hits in a 13 year career.

If you count careers at the highest levels of pro baseball, Ichiro is only the third player ever to cross the 4,000 hit mark with the other two being Pete Rose and Ty Cobb. While Rose and Cobb's hits have all come while playing Major League Baseball, it's still an impressive milestone in terms of an international mark.

It also makes you wonder if Ichiro would've gotten to the 4,000 hit mark if he had started his career in the Majors. Ichiro has more hits than anyone since his MLB debut in 2001 and also set the new single season hits record in 2004 with 262.

It's fun to play "what if" but there's no doubt that Ichiro is a living legend of the game on an international scale.

P.S. Yanks would win 4-2... whatever.

R.A. Dickey Traded to Toronto

It's official: the Mets never want to be relevant again.

R.A. Dickey had a great season in 2012 with that Knuckleball fooling many batters across the majors. It got him a 20-6 record with a 2.73 ERA, 230 K's, and the NL Cy Young Award. He became a sensation across the majors for both his achievements and his life story. Everything that happened in 2012, however, didn't seem to be enough for the Mets to keep the 38 year old right hander.

The Toronto Blue Jays acquire R.A. Dickey through a trade with the Mets and after agreeing to a two year contract extension with Dickey worth $25 million. The Mets in return get catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud, Class A right-hander Noah Syndergaard, and 18-year-old outfielder Wuilmer Becerra from the Jays. Dickey becomes another piece added in a off season and major additions for the Blue Jays.

This move along with the others are clear signs that Toronto is going all in. The pitching rotation could be great with R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, Brandon Morrow and Ricky Romero. Though Romero and Johnson needs rebound seasons for this to work, the Blue Jays might have a postseason shot if the rotation works out. Their hitting looks alright with Jose Reyes, Jose Bautista, and Melky Cabrera (provided that the PED's weren't doing most of the work) but it will have to be R.A. Dickey and Toronto's pitching carrying them to October.

P.S. As for the Mets, who cares. They certainly don't.