On Saturday, December 9, 2023, the landscape of professional sports was marked with an unprecedented event. That afternoon, following a period of considerable fanfare, the two-way baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Aside from its impact on baseball itself, the contract is the richest in terms of contract value (as opposed to annual value) in the history of professional sports, topping Lionel Messi’s four-year, $674 million contract with FC Barcelona, which was signed back in 2017. (It was announced that Ohtani would defer $680 million, meaning he will only receive $2 million per year over the next decade, but will receive the remaining $68 million per year when the contract ends.) It is the largest contract in North American professional sports by an even more significant margin (the next highest is Patrick Mahomes’s 10-year, $450 million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs).
As the only North American major sports league without a salary cap, Major League Baseball is no stranger to lucrative contracts. This has been common practice in MLB for quite some time. Players such as Aaron Judge, Mookie Betts, Manny Machado, Francisco Lindor, and Mike Trout are all examples of players who have signed contracts worth upwards of $340 million. As a result of the lack of a salary cap, there are a number of “rich teams” and “poor teams.” And while the Dodgers are one of these “upper class” teams in terms of payroll, it still begs the question as to why any team, no matter how rich or poor (and disregarding Ohtani’s deferral), would invest $700 million in a single player. Who is this guy, and what makes him the equivalent of not one, but two $350 million players?
Who is Shohei Ohtani?
Even without taking his on-field performance into account, Ohtani, 29, is already in a class of his own. Before his entrance into MLB in 2018, the idea of a two-way player was essentially unheard of. Being a regular hitter and pitcher in the major leagues is not normal. For comparison, let’s say Patrick Mahomes was still the same MVP-level quarterback, but was also an All-Pro linebacker. Obviously a lot of this comparison can get lost in translation, but hopefully the point gets across. The last player to consistently hit and pitch was Babe Ruth, arguably the “GOAT” of baseball, and he lasted all of five years before he stopped pitching altogether.
Like Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, and other great Japanese MLB players, Ohtani got his start in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, specifically with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. He was the 2016 Pacific League Most Valuable Player and established himself as a premier pitcher and hitter in the league. Following a complicated contract dispute with the Fighters, Ohtani was able to enter Major League Baseball. Instead of joining an obvious contender like the Dodgers, Red Sox, or Yankees, Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Angels (don’t be fooled by the name, they play in Anaheim). This was a team that had then two-time (now three-time) MVP Mike Trout at its forefront, but desperately needed more talent around him in order to succeed. After all, no matter how good a batter is, he only occupies one of nine spots in a lineup. The Angels had fallen on hard times and, despite having a generational talent, had not won a playoff game since 2009. Trout’s only playoff appearance featured the Angels getting swept by the Kansas City Royals. They had invested money in player after player, resulting in disappointment after disappointment. Ohtani, like Trout, would be different. Unlike Trout, however, Ohtani took some time to reach superstar status.
Ohtani only pitched in 10 games in 2018, but hit 22 home runs and still managed to win Rookie of the Year. However, his 2019 and 2020 seasons were injury-plagued, and critics thought they had conclusive evidence that being a starting pitcher and an everyday player was not possible. Going into the next season, Ohtani had everything to prove. And prove he did, as Ohtani’s 2021 season was one of the greatest single seasons for an athlete in recent history.
Ohtani smashed 46 home runs and 100 runs batted in while pitching to a 3.18 earned run average (that’s really good). He was elected to the All-Star Game as both a hitter and pitcher, and won MVP by a unanimous vote. He followed that jaw-dropping campaign with another outstanding season. In 2022, he hit 34 home runs, drove in 95 runs, and had a batting average up 29 points from 2021. His performance on the mound was phenomenal, going 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA (that’s really, really good). Ohtani would finish second in MVP voting to Aaron Judge and his 62 home runs, but he wouldn’t let that deter him. Before the 2023 season, Ohtani led Japan to a victory in the World Baseball Classic, with Ohtani recording a strikeout of his teammate, Mike Trout, to beat the United States and win the tournament. His 2023 MLB season was arguably his best offensively. He hit 44 home runs and batted .304 (that’s also really good) in only 135 games (he missed 27 games due to injury) while once again having a 10+ win season on the mound with an excellent ERA at 3.14.
This string of three seasons was unlike anything baseball had seen in nearly a century. However, Ohtani’s dominance wasn’t enough to carry the Angels to success. Mike Trout experienced numerous injuries, and the Angels were mediocre at best during these three seasons. Thus, it became a major talking point that Ohtani would opt to leave Anaheim during his upcoming free agency. Ohtani’s injury forced him to have elbow surgery, meaning that he will not pitch in 2024. Despite this, Ohtani’s free agency became one of the most talked about in baseball history.
Flights, False Alarms and Frustration in Toronto
From the beginning, it appeared that the Dodgers were the favorites to sign Ohtani; that’s not the weird part. And while the amount of money he got was jaw-dropping, it was even more unusual how the events transpired that brought him there.
By the first week of December, the primary contenders for Ohtani were the Dodgers, the Angels, the Toronto Blue Jays, the San Francisco Giants, and the Chicago Cubs. By Friday, December 8, it was down to the Dodgers and Blue Jays. Fans north of the border were shocked that their team had made it this far, and their happiness was further amplified when numerous reports came out that Ohtani was indeed signing with Toronto. These reports were soon refuted, as Ohtani had not come to a conclusion by that point. In addition, people began to notice online that there was a charter plane en route from Orange County to Toronto, with many speculating that Ohtani was aboard this plane. Many others began to actively track the flight itself. This culminated when an MLB insider, Jon Morosi, mistakenly reported that Ohtani was on his way to Toronto, which was soon found to be false. As if this wasn’t enough of a letdown for Jays fans, it was announced the following day that Ohtani had signed with the Dodgers.
Implications for Major League Baseball
As is often the case in MLB free agency, the rich have gotten richer. L.A. now boasts a lineup featuring 2018 MVP and 2023 MVP runner-up Mookie Betts, 2020 MVP and 2023 third place finisher Freddie Freeman, and Ohtani. Despite the Dodgers’ massive payroll, they have achieved limited postseason success despite perennial regular season dominance. They have just one World Series win since 1988, and that championship has an asterisk next to it due to it being played in the abbreviated 2020 season with an adjusted format. If the Dodgers continue to underperform in the postseason even with Ohtani, it will be one of the most egregious examples of squandered potential in sports history. After all, a large part of Ohtani signing with the Dodgers was the assurance of playing for a consistent championship contender. The Dodgers’ 2023 season ended with a 3-game postseason thrashing at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks, a team the Dodgers have largely dominated for the past decade. Regardless, the Dodgers have yet another piece that will allow them to compete for their 8th (*) title.
Ohtani’s arrival in Los Angeles signals disaster for the rest of the National League West. The Giants have little star power to complement streaky play, the Diamondbacks made the World Series but are likely due for a regression, San Diego traded superstar Juan Soto to the Yankees in a move to shed payroll, and Colorado–their record says everything. Either way, the National League is now up for grabs. Will the Dodgers reclaim their throne, or will teams such as Atlanta and Philadelphia continue to challenge them for it? Find out in the spring, when Ohtani and the Dodgers will take the field once again.
