"Ichiro finally held court with the media after refuting prior interview requests down the stretch in this, his most difficult of seasons. His Mariners had just dropped a 2-0 decision to the Oakland A's to finish the year being shut out in back-to-back games.

Overall, the M's lost 95 games. Last year, they'd dropped 98 heading into their final series of the season, so there isn't much separating the two from a win-loss perspective. Mariners manager Eric Wedge held court with his players pre-game and told them he wants that bar raised higher -- saying he expects players to deal with heightened expectations that include "working to win our division" next season.

Ichiro has dealt with heightened expectations throughout his career. This season, he fell well short. It wasn't so much the 184 hits -- leaving him shy of 200 for the first time in his career -- but more a .310 on-base percentage among the worst of any leadoff hitter or regular player with his number of plate appearances."