History can wait, a Willson wedding and a non-retirement

By Sinhue Mendoza

He’s so close to history we can all feel it for him. On Thursday night, Angels first baseman Albert Pujols hit the 626th double of his incredible career, giving him 2,999 hits.

Unfortunately, “The Machine” only picked up one hit in the Angels’ 12-3 home win against Baltimore and will now have to wait until Friday night’s game in Seattle for his next chance to reach 3,000.

Speaking of Seattle

The Mariners announced on Thursday that Ichiro will no longer play for the team during the 2018 season. But that doesn’t mean he’s leaving the team — or the game. Ichiro will become a special assistant to the chairman, essentially being a player-coach who can’t help the team on the field but can still offer advice to his now-former teammates.

Ichiro, like Pujols, was the Rookie of the Year in 2001. He finishes the 2018 season with 3,089 hits — 90 more than Pujols. But he hasn’t retired…

A Willson Wedding

Buried in the headlines on a Cubs off day and behind the Pujols and Ichiro news, Chicago catcher Willson Contreras quietly announced on Instagram that he’s now a married man!

Leaving karats on the diamond

While hustling to stretch a blooper to right field into a double, Yoenis Cespedes may have given us the most expensive double in league history at CitiField. After sliding into second base, his chain broke, leaving diamonds all over the infield dirt.

¿Café, anyone?

In one of MLB’s last neighborhood ball parks a trip to the local coffee shop isn’t out of the question. Noel Cuevas found out the hard way when he was tasked with picking up coffee for the entire traveling roster in the streets of Wrigleyville.

Daniel Castro Returns to the Rockies

On a beautiful night at Wrigley Field Daniel Castro returned to the Rockies lineup Tuesday. Castro’s bat has been on fire in Triple-A Albuquerque batting .407 through 23 games and he brought with him a 22-game hitting streak. LVB caught up with him at Wrigley Field pregame.

1,743 Reasons He’s Special

On Wednesday afternoon Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina made history. With his 1,743rd game behind the plate, Molina passed Reds Hall of Famer Johnny Bench on the all-time games caught list.

Featured Image: Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images Sport