Shohei Ohtani obliterated every MLB contract record when he signed with the Dodgers for 10 years. The greatest free agent in the history of baseball has finally made up his mind for a mind-boggling $700 million. The news was broken by Shohei Ohtani himself over his Instagram account on Saturday.
Ohtani revealed that he had penned a contract with the LA Dodgers with the amount being revealed by his agent Nez Balelo. Shohei Ohtani is relocating to Southern California and will be switching uniforms. It is the richest deal in US sports history. It is a big gamble for the LA Dodgers who will expect Shohei Ohtani to deliver the championship and also help recoup at least part of the expense made on him. But they are betting on the fickle economics of professional sports, feel some experts.
Dodgers To Pay Shohei Ohtani The Equivalent Of The GDP Of Many Nations
It is a far cry from the normal profile of Japanese players who are expected to stay low and let their performance speak for themselves. And yet Ohtani has set the American sports world reeling with the figures. The deal was as mind-boggling as his blazing fastball and measured home runs.
The amount is $275 million more than what Mike Trout, his teammate at the Angels, received in 2019, and it beats even the NBA record of Damian Lillard (Milwaukee Bucks) by $10 million a year. It even eclipses soccer star Messi’s earnings of around $60 million per year for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer.
Shohei Ohtani’s rise enforces the belief that Japanese players are among the most popular and among the best in a game that is going beyond the shores of its birthplace. Along with Ohtani, 25-year-old Yoshinobu Yamamoto is also being eyed by several, among them the Mets and the Yankees. Baseball has been the Japanese national sport for decades and has been a testing ground for the fiercely proud nation to test themselves against the Americans. And Shohei Ohtani personifies that.