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MLB Fans React to Viral Moment as Ichiro Statue Breaks

The Seattle Mariners legend had a statue revealed on Friday afternoon.
Patrick McAvoy|
Feb 12, 2026; Peoria, AZ, USA; Former Seattle Mariners player Ichiro Suzuki looks on during a Spring Training workout at Peoria Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images
Feb 12, 2026; Peoria, AZ, USA; Former Seattle Mariners player Ichiro Suzuki looks on during a Spring Training workout at Peoria Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images | Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images

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Seattle Mariners

The Seattle Mariners revealed a statue outside of franchise legend and Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki on Friday at T-Mobile Park, but things didn't go as planned, to say the least.

Seattle revealed the statue on Friday afternoon but there was a bit of a malfunction while pulling a tarp off of it. Legends were in the house, including Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez and John Stanton. When the tarp came off, though, so too did part of the bat.

A Viral Moment Seattle Didn't Want To Have

Seattle Mariners player Ichiro Suzuki
Feb 12, 2026; Peoria, AZ, USA; Former Seattle Mariners player Ichiro Suzuki looks on during a Spring Training workout at Peoria Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images | Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images

You certainly don't see that every day. Suzuki had a hilarious response and brought up New York Yankees Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera in the process, as transcribed by Daniel Kramer of MLB.com.

Again, this isn't something you see every day and fans around the league responded to the viral moment.

The Mariners quickly became the biggest story in Major League Baseball, but not for the right reason. Fortunately, the club had a pretty funny response to the statue malfunction themselves.

Each year, there are always wacky stories that come out of nowhere. This is certainly one that is going to be remembered over the course of the 2026 season. We're just two weeks into the season and we've already seen a statue break for a league legend. It's going to be hard to top this story throughout the campaign.

It doesn't help that the Mariners' offense has been brutal so far this season. Seattle is riding a league-high five-game losing streak and the club has scored the second-fewest runs in the league through two weeks with just 40 through 13 games. It's never great to have the offense go ice-cold, but a broken bat on a statue during that? That's fuel for jokes. Frankly, it'd be more difficult to write a better joke.

The Mariners' rotation has been carrying the load so far this season. Seattle has the seventh-best starting rotation ERA in baseball at 2.92. That's ahead of teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers, among others. The rotation is doing its job, but the offense has struggled. Mix that with a broken bat on Ichiro's statue and you have nightmare fuel for the organization and jokes galore among baseball fans across the league.

On the bright side, it appears as though the statue has been fixed.

That doesn't remove the viral moment for Seattle across teh league, though.

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Patrick McAvoy
PATRICK MCAVOY

Patrick McAvoy's experiences include local and national sports coverage at the New England Sports Network with a focus on baseball and basketball. Outside of journalism, Patrick also received an MBA at Brandeis University. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Fastball On SI, please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@moreviewsmedia.com

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