Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani celebrates in the dugout while wearing a hat after hitting a home run against the Seattle Mariners during the eighth inning of a baseball game Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, in Anaheim, Calif. The Los Angeles Dodgers are odds on favorites to win the Ohtani sweepstakes. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Why Ohtani could soon be with the Dodgers

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

These are the three main reasons the two-way Japanese superstar could quickly sign with the Dodgers.

Why are the Dodgers the favorites to sign Shohei Ohtani? 1-He has repeatedly said he wants to stay on the West Coast. 2-He wants to be with a winner, and the Dodgers have won 10 divisional titles since 2013, three NL pennants, and a World Series, and they play here on the coast.

Three only a super-rich team can sign him, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are one of those teams, owned by the Guggenheim Baseball consortium. So, what is not to like for Ohtani?

It is well known by now that baseball sensation and free agent Shohei Ohtani is much more comfortable playing in southern California. He has played all of his six-year career at pitching-friendly Angel Stadium in Anaheim. If Angel Stadium is pitching-friendly, just 35 miles up Interstate Highway 5 there is a park that is even harder to hit a ball out, and that is Dodger Stadium.

The Los Angeles Dodgers makes all the sense in the world for the fantastic two-way player to set his new home beginning this next 2024 season. It is expected Ohtani could make a decision as early as Monday, the fourth of December.

On Monday, December 4, the Baseball Winter Meetings begin in Nashville, Tennessee. Shohei Ohtani is the biggest catch possible, and the Dodgers are one of the favorite teams to land the Japanese star with a salary that could reach $600 million.

The Dodger’s biggest and most historic rivals, the San Francisco Giants, have the money and the desire to land that box office attraction, especially since last season they struck out twice with two biggies, first Northern California native Aaron Judge, who stayed with the Yankees, and later with Carlos Correa who signed with the Twins. In both cases, the Giants went public and told their fans they were after these two superstars.

For Giants fans, It was like dangling a piece of candy in front of a 3-year-old and then pulling it back. Ohtani’s agent is Nez Balelo, one of the top agents in the baseball business, who Forbes also lists as one of the most potent agents in the world. Balelo is in the class of super-baseball agent Scott Boras.

Winter Meetings are scheduled from December 4-7. There is more than a 50% possibility that Shohei Ohtani will be signing his new contract, which will be, by far, the biggest in baseball history and one of the biggest in all sports. The 2-time MVP had successful elbow surgery last September; he is expected to hit in 2024 and return to the mound in 2025.

Quote: -“MVP with ease. He should win it every year. What he’s doing is insane. All of us at the highest level can’t believe our eyes. Truly remarkable. Be thankful you get to witness a real GOAT” – Chicago Cubs pitcher Marcus Stroman after Ohtani struck out ten players and hit two home runs in a win over the Chicago White Sox.

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