A match made in heaven. Blue heaven. After countless days and weeks of anticipation and patience, Shohei Ohtani has decided to stay in Southern California, and play for the real team in Los Angeles. It was the worse kept secret in baseball. It makes perfect sense why he wanted to play for the Dodgers.
#1 Geography
He already has a home in Southern California so he doesn’t need to pack or move his family anywhere.
#2 Dodgers can afford the contract
Don’t get me wrong, 700 million dollars is a lot of money but he’s well worth it. He won AL rookie of the year in 2018, 2-time AL MVP in 2021 and 2023, 3-time All Star, 2023 World Baseball Classic champion with his home country Japan, and when’s he healthy, he’s a top five starting pitcher in all of baseball.
Lastly, #3 The Dodgers are the most consistent winner.
I know it may not add up to World Series Championships but let me remind you. They have been to the postseason every year since 2013, they won the NL West every year in this run with the exemption of 2021, multiple times in the World Series (2017, 2018, and 2020), and the World Series win in 2020.
The only thing we knew about what Shohei Ohtani wanted was that he said once that he wanted to win. Well, coming to play with the Dodgers gives him a crack at that for the next 10 seasons. Oh, and did I mention that he’ll now be playing at historic Dodger Stadium, in front of sellout crowds every single night, and hitting along side Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman?
You’re putting the biggest star in baseball and in the world , along side one of the biggest marquee franchises in North American sports. Yeah I think the choice was pretty clear and obvious. Now they have to win.
Dodgers still have to make moves to improve their starting pitching, but for right now, Dodger fans everywhere should unite in joy. 2024 can’t come soon enough. Los Angeles is the city of the champions and the city of stars and now they have the biggest star of them all.