Now that you’ve eaten all the pie that a human being can safely consume, and as you prepare to drink all of the celebratory champagne to ring in 2014, it’s time to look back at 2013, and the year that was.

Because baseball, while merely diversion, is also a sublime one, celebrating those who overcoming failure, bringing cities together, and providing a lot of really hilarious gifs along the way.

So what were the 13 most wonderful moments in 2013? Continue on:

13. Munenori Kawasaki Makes Us All Fall in Love

Coming into the year, Munenori Kawasaki was already well regarded among utility infielder enthusiasts and dancing critics. His dugout performances with the Seattle Mariners are among the greatest of theatrical displays, his fluid motion and sense of rhythm surely impressing Nigel Lythgoe, judge of Dancing With the Stars.

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Of course, dancing is not new for Kawasaki, he’s been doing it his whole career.

But this year, when Kawasaki went to the Great White North (but actually south from Seattle to Toronto…which just makes my head want to explode), he made us fall in love all over again. Which is a great tagline to the sequel to any romantic comedy.

On May 26th, against the Baltimore Orioles, Kawasaki hit a walk-off double in the 9th inning to win the game, his smile wide and arms raised as he raced around the bases. But he saved his best moment for the post game interview.

After Mark DeRosa gives up the mic, Munenori Kawasaki steps forward and, his handy notebook at the ready, announced to the crowd, “I am Japaneeeese!” before thanking the team for giving him the opportunity to drive in those runs. (Click here for the video if the embed doesn’t work)

Unfortunately for the soft-hitting Kawasaki, perennially at the back-end of the roster, no matter how likable he is or how much he boosts clubhouse chemistry, he still had to be sent on a mid-season trip to AAA. Kawasaki took that in stride as well, saying:

“It’s not as if I’ve died. I’m still a baseball player; it’s just that tomorrow the field will be different.”

Fortunately for all of us, Kawasaki signed a minor league contract with the Blue Jays for next season, so we should expect to see his face on a big league field for at least a couple of weeks. And we will wait for the good things to come of it, eventually necessitating a sequel to the Illustrated Adventures of…

12. Wladimir Balentien Destroys the NPB Home Run Record

There have been assaults on Sadaharu Oh’s vaunted single season home run record in the past, with Tuffy Rhodes and Alex Cabrera tying it with 55 in a season. While Oh is a legend, the same really can’t be said of Tuffy or Cabrera.

And while Japanese pitchers have historically intentionally walked sluggers at the end of the year to ensure that Oh would forever hold his record, there was no way to stop Balentien this year, reaching #55 on September 11th with less than 400 at-bats.

Thanks to the power of the internet and videos that can be instantly shared, we all got to follow along. Like this video of Balentien’s first 55 home runs in just under three minutes.

If you enjoy watching a large man just murder baseballs time and time again, you’ll enjoy this:

And when it came time to break the record, Balentien didn’t just pass it, he decided to destroy it, hitting his 56th and 57th in the same day.

Which, hey, why not celebrate twice in one night?

Come the end of the year, Balentien, a career .221/.281/.374 hitter in the states, had 60 dingers to go along with a .330/.455/.779 line and one hell of a tee-shirt:

Now we are all Balentien.

11. June 8th: The Day The Baseball Never Stopped

While it may not have had the massive proportions of 2011’s Game 162, if you were a baseball fan, June 8th was everything you could have ever asked for. And if you were a human being who didn’t want to attend a social outing and were using the excuse, “I’ll leave when the game’s over,” this was also your perfect day.

It wasn’t just that three games went into extra innings, it’s the sheer extra innings-ness that made them so special. While the Twins and Nationals game was a normal affair, ending in the 11th inning on a Ryan Doumit single, the other two games, featuring the Rangers at Blue Jays and Marlins at Mets, lasted 18 and 20 innings respectively.

That’s a lot of free baseball.

The Rangers, losing 4-3 on a Rajai Davis 18th inning single, were an absurd 1-for-19 with runners in scoring position, the Blue Jays a much better 2-for-17.

But things were even wackier over in Flushing, the Marlins somehow winning a 20 inning game while getting only four men into scoring position and the Mets somehow not picking up a single hit among the 19 players that reached second base.

For those that paid money to attend the game, they got the bonus of two pitching duels. First there was the matchup of two hot, young studs, with Jose Fernandez (6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 7 K) going against Matt Harvey (7 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 6 K). Later, the wily veterans got involved, Kevin Slowey coming out of the pen to pitch 7 shutout innings, striking out 8, and Shaun Marcum falling to 0-7 on the year by pitching 8 innings, striking out 7, and giving up Adeiny Hechavarria’s game-winning single.

And just look at the excited crowd that was still on hand!

As pointed out by Matthew Kory, in those three extra innings affairs, 44 pitchers were used, 394 batters came to the plate, and 1,449 pitches were thrown. All told, there were fifteen hours of bonus baseball and a lot of loopy announcers just trying to find things to talk about.

Thank god for MLB.tv.

10. Ichrio Is A Hit Lord

I think we often forget how fortunate we are to have Ichiro Suzuki. He is a man who oozes tools like speed, contact, arm strength, high socks, quotability, gorgeousness on a baseball field, sleekness of a jungle cat, and possessor of a museum dedicated solely to him. Even Mike Trout can’t claim all of those.

And though 2013 was clearly the worst year of Ichiro’s career, posting career lows in hits, average, OPS, and steals, sadly proving that even Ichiro is not immune to the ravages of age, he did have one great day in the sun.

On August 21st, Ichiro squared off against RA Dickey, lacing a single off the knuckleballer for his 4,000 hit of the year, even getting Heisenberg to come out of hiding for the event.

It was a great accomplishment for a player who has been a symbol of grace and baseball beauty in whatever continent he’s played.

Sadly, with his career in decline, it’s quite possible that 2014 will be the last time we’ll ever see Ichiro appear on major league ball field. So let’s make the most of the time that we have left, huh?

9. Jason Giambi Walks Off

Jason Giambi has taken a strange turn in his career. Where he was once the enormous-faced poster boy for steroids-enhanced performance, somewhere along the line he became the funny frat-jock of the clubhouse, giving younger players a helping hand and then, presumably, putting on the golden thong.

Before the season, Giambi wasn’t even a lock to be a player, interviewing for the Rockies managerial job before he went and joined the Cleveland Indians as pinch-hitter and spiritual advisor.

Though Giambi didn’t get much playing time, he made the most of it when he did appear, hitting 9 home runs and driving in 31 despite hitting a meager .183/.282/.371.

But he also created a folk legend status for himself, too, guaranteeing he’ll never have to pay for a drink in Cleveland again. On July 29th, Giambi became the oldest player to hit a walk-off home run when he hit the game-winner against Ramon Troncoso of the Chicago White Sox.

That record didn’t stand long as Giambi broke it again later in the year, keeping the Indians post season hopes alive when he used that large, square body to hit a two-run home run off of Addison Reed on September 24th.

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It even lead to this tee shirt from Homage (sadly, no longer available) a few days later based on Tom Hamilton’s home run call:

Giambi has re-signed with the Indians on a minor league contract, but that September 24th home run could well be the last of his career. If so, it’s not a bad way to walk into the sunset.

8. The Butt Gif

The Astros were bad last year. And the year before. And the year before that. The point is, they’ve been very, very bad. But they are also doing some really exciting things.

They’ve stolen Mike Fast, Kevin Goldstein, and Colin Wyers from Baseball Prospectus, switched to much improved throwback uniforms, have Carlos Correa, Mark Appel, and George Springer percolating in the minors, and feature the adorably small Jose Altuve on the major league roster.

(image via Tinkers Ghost)

So there’s a lot to like about a team that has lost over 100 games three years in a row.

But just like the unavoidable hilarity of a man being hit in the groin with a football or another tumbling from a Segway, it’s sometimes okay to laugh at the dregs of the league. It’s how America’s Funniest Home Videos is still on the air.

That’s why we are all so lucky that this gif came along:

It’s a professional athlete sliding directly into a butt.

It’s metaphorical, it’s crass, and it’s perfect.

7. Puig Mania

Yasiel Puig started the year by crushing the ball in spring training, forcing writers and pundits to ask questions like, “Is this 22-year-old with only 95 professional plate appearances ready to play for a $200 million team?”

And we all laughed and said, “Of course not! He’s young! He’s raw! He’s unproven. There’s simply no way!"

And then we were made into fools. Damn hell ass fools.

When Puig was called up on June 3rd, all he did was go 2-for-4. A fine debut, sure, but for his follow-up, Puig went 3-for-5 with two home runs and five RBI, ending the game by doubling the runner off at first base. By that point, Puig Mania had already gripped Los Angeles and it wouldn’t let go.

The team, struggling when Puig was called up, caught fire. While Puig hit .436/.467/.713 with 7 home runs in the month of June, the team got hot, too, cutting their way through the NL West and advancing to the NLCS.

While Puig was incredibly raw, swinging at everything and throwing the ball anywhere he damn well pleased, somehow, thanks to his outrageous athleticism, the results were unusually pleasing. At the end of the year, Puig hit .319/.391/.534 with 19 HR despite seeing just 3.58 pitches per plate appearance, ranking 667th among all batters, pitchers included, behind players like Jeff Francoeur and Todd Swingsalot.

Sure, there were plenty of articles decrying Puig’s reckless approach (these same writers, however, tend to be the ones who dislike the current "businessman-like” approach of other players), and, yes, Puig does have a penchant for dangerous driving, but when he’s on the field, there’s an electricity to his performance that demands you pay attention, whether he’s swinging and missing through high fastball after high fastball, or crushing a triple to the corner that he didn’t even run on.

And that’s why there was no better time for the first ever baseball-themed hardcore band, Puig Destroyer.

A band that Puig himself listened to and said, rather nonchalantly for having a band named after you, “That’s very good."

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Tomorrow: The top of the list!

And while you wait, why not re-live 2012 (Part I and II), 2011 (Part I and II) or 2010 (Part I and II)? I mean, what else are you doing with your time?