Dear Shohei,

I am a Mariner fan and have been since I was born. Being a Mariner is in my blood. The moment that cemented my love for baseball - and the Mariners - was in the 1995 American League Division Series. My father tells me stories about how excited I was listening to the radio as Edgar Martinez hit "The Double" that drove in Ken Griffey Junior and sent us to the Division Championship. I was five years old.

I am 26 years old now. I have idolized many great Mariners in my short life; Griffey. Martinez. Moyer. Sasaki. Ichiro. Hernandez. I have also seen my team achieve amazing things and go through significant struggles. I watched us win 116 games and tie the league record in 2001, only to have our hearts broken when we were eliminated in the league championship. I will never forget watching Ichiro play that season, and going on to win the MVP, Rookie of the Year, Gold Glove, and Silver Slugger Awards. It was the greatest season in Mariners history, and we have not been to the postseason since then. Mariners fans maintain a hope that someday, a star will emerge and lead us to the end of our postseason drought, to a division championship, and to our first World Series trophy.

I, and many other Mariner fans, hoped you would be that player. To say you are exciting to baseball fans is an understatement; you have quite literally captivated the baseball world in a way that has never happened before. Mariner fans have always felt connected in a special way to Japanese players, and you are no different; we truly believed you would have led Seattle to great things. To find out that you have decided to join the Angels was heartbreaking.

I was once taught a Japanese word that I have found poignant throughout this whole process. The word is ikigai - a person's "reason for being". In America, we sometimes use the phrase "the thing that wakes you up in the morning". For myself, and many Mariner fans, you have been our ikigai. I have woken many mornings, and before anything else, checked to see if there were any updates on your journey. Now, your journey is both complete, and just beginning.

As a Mariner fan... I now have the solemn duty to hope that each day we meet, we are able to defeat you. I hope, for my team's sake, that you encounter struggles and challenges. I hope the road is not easy for you.

But as a baseball fan and a lover of this great game... I hope you are wildly successful. I hope you have many learning experiences, overcome many challenges, and develop many friendships. I hope you achieve the greatness we all know you are capable of. I look forward to watching you play this game, wherever it may lead you.

Thank you for being, for a time, our ikigai. I wish you all the worst... and all the best.

Sincerely,

Seth Morgan