The sweepstakes to sign prized free agent and Major League Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani ended over the weekend.
The three-time All-Star and two-time American League MVP starting pitcher and designated hitter agreed to a 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, moving across town after spending his first six MLB seasons with the Los Angeles Angels.
“To all the fans and everyone involved in the baseball world, I apologize for taking so long to come to a decision,” Ohtani wrote on Instagram. “I have decided to choose the Dodgers as my next team.”
The 28-year-old from Japan has taken the league by storm as the most successful two-way player in league history.
Through his first six seasons, Ohtani has pitched as part of the Angels’ starting rotation while serving as the team’s designated hitter. The move has allowed the team to insert him in the lineup with flexibility, and he rewarded them with a 38-19 record, 3.01 ERA, and 608 strikeouts on the mound while hitting .274 with 171 home runs and 437 RBIs at the plate.
However, the Angels never made the playoffs during his time with the club, which may have contributed to the change.
“I really like the team. I love the fans. I love the atmosphere of the team,” Ohtani told the Los Angeles Times after the 2021 season. “But, more than that, I want to win. That’s the biggest thing for me. I’ll leave it at that.”
Ohtani is currently on the mend from Tommy John surgery and did not pitch during the 2019 season after undergoing the same procedure. Because of that, he is only expected to hit during the 2024 season and will wait until 2025 to make his Dodger debut on the mound.
Still, his talent and impact on the game have been so transcendent that he landed the richest contract in the history of sports as baseball salaries continue to skyrocket with no league salary cap, surpassing both Mike Trout’s 12-year, $426.5 million deal with the Angels in 2019 and Patrick Mahomes’s $450 million extension with the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL.
Ohtani’s annual salary of $70 million is almost $30 million more than the next highest-paid player and is more than the entire payroll of two teams from the start of last season.
