This offseason, the most anticipated baseball storyline was Shohei Ohtani’s free agency. On Saturday, he declared his intention to sign a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, following the widespread reports that circulated on Friday.
With plenty of deferred payments and no opt-out clauses, he will make a whooping $70 million annually, making this contract easily the richest in baseball and North American sports history.
The Orioles and their fan base should be very relieved by Ohtani’s agreement with the Dodgers. In recent days, the Orioles’ division foe, the Toronto Blue Jays, were thought to be the front-runners to sign Ohtani. Ohtani remaining in California allowed the Orioles to avoid
The Orioles should be happy to hear that Shohei Ohtani plans to remain on the west coast.
The main reason for comfort is that Ohtani won’t be playing for a division opponent, meaning the Orioles won’t have to worry about his amazing skills trying to defeat them in 13 games a season—or maybe more if they ever faced off in the postseason.
Rather, Ohtani will only face the Orioles three or four times during the season. This year, there will be three as the Orioles go on a western road trip that includes a stop in Denver to play the Colorado Rockies and games against the Dodgers from August 27–29. They will just have to contend with Ohtani the batter in 2024 because he won’t