Dipoto: Ichiro will be on Japan Series roster

SEATTLE -- While Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto says there are many questions to be answered as the upcoming offseason plays out, one answer is already known. Ichiro Suzuki will be on the Major League roster when Seattle opens its regular season in Tokyo against the A's in the Japan Series next March, as long as he is healthy.

Dipoto confirmed that likelihood Monday in a postseason gathering with the media, noting that the commitment presumably will be just for the two-game series in Japan on March 20-21, when the Mariners and A's can carry an expanded 28-man roster before returning to the United States to resume the regular season a week later.

Ichiro, who turns 45 later this month,…