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Shohei Ohtani instantly became a force to be reckoned with during his 2018 rookie season in the MLB. He played in 104 games that season, hitting .285/.361/.564 with 22 home runs and 61 runs batted in.

Federal prosecutors released an audio clip of Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, allegedly impersonating the Los Angeles Dodgers star during a bank phone call. They also recommended a 57-month sentence.

Ichiro Suzuki could have been immortalized as a first-ballot Hall of Famer nearly a decade ago. He was last a full-time starter in 2012, at 38. He logged his 3,000th hit in 2016, when he was 42. Still, he made us wait three more years to celebrate his retirement.

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.

Only great Yankees All World reliever, Mariano Rivera, was unanimously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. That’s it. Nobody else. Both Babe Ruth, and Honus Wagner received 95.13% of the vote when they were elected to the Hall.

Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese player chosen for baseball’s Hall of Fame, falling one vote shy of unanimous.

The baseball world was left delighted on Ichiro's induction into Cooperstown. But who opted to keep him off their ballot and deny him the glory of being a unanimous choice?

"Ichiro's arrival in the United States, after nine seasons in Japan's major leagues, represented a significant moment in the globalization of baseball."

New year, new swing?

Nevada Sports Net columnist Chris Murray is known to be a bit wordy, so we're giving him 1,000 words (but no more than that) every Friday to share his thoughts