In a record-breaking deal, Shohei Ohtani has signed a 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a stunning $700 million, which is the biggest MLB contract to date and the second place contract isn’t even close at $426.5 million issued to Mike Trout in 2019.1 The deal keeps Ohtani in LA for the better part of the rest of his professional baseball career. The 28-year-old will be joining the 2024 lineup with the likes of Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts for a powerhouse collection of talent.
It’s the hope that the addition of Ohtani will help improve the Dodgers’ post-season performance because in recent years, October has been pretty rough for the team with a series of appearances but little success with the exception of the lost year of 2020.
The two-way player burst onto the scene in 2018 with the Anaheim Angels and was name the AL Rookie of the Year. Since then he’s collected 2x MVP, 3x AS, 2x SS, and was named ML Player of the Year in 2021.2 The guy’s highly decorated and in all of just 6 years’ time.
References:
- Shohei Ohtani joining Dodgers on 10-year, $700M contract. www.espn.com ↩︎
- Shohei Ohtani. www.baseball-reference.com ↩︎
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