BALTIMORE — The 2001 season was a whirlwind for Ichiro Suzuki. It was his first year in Major League Baseball as a 27-year-old rookie from Japan, and he lit up the American League, winning the rookie of the year and the Most Valuable Player awards as the Seattle Mariners won 116 games, by far the most in club history.

But when the Mariners went to the playoffs that year, it was a subdued affair. The nation had been stunned by the Sept. 11 attacks, and the sentiment around baseball was that Champagne parties after clinching victories would be insensitive. Seattle would have had only two chances to celebrate, anyway.

On Oct. 22, the Mariners were sent home after a bitter defeat in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium.

It was Suzuki’s 28th birthday, and his last appearance in the playoffs for 11 years.

Suzuki did not get another opportunity until last Wednesday, when he and his Yankee teammates won the American League East on the final day of the regular season.