Dodgers seemingly blew rivals out of the water with Shohei Ohtani bid

The Los Angeles Dodgers logo on the outside of Dodger Stadium on July 15, 2018. Photo Credit: Larry Brown/Larry Brown Sports

The 10-year, $700 million contract the Los Angeles Dodgers gave to Shohei Ohtani stunned the sports world on Saturday. In fact, even the Dodgers’ rivals for Ohtani seemed to have that reaction.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post suggested that the runners-up in the Ohtani sweepstakes did not come close to matching the $700 million offer.

Word from one of the Ohtani finalists: “We certainly were not at 699”

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 9, 2023

Most believed Ohtani would easily land a $500 million deal, with a few optimists predicting that he could get up to $600 million. Few would have seen this sort of contract coming, even if the structure of it has some notable benefits from the Dodgers’ point of view.

Plenty of teams pursued Ohtani, but the Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays were clearly viewed as the main threats to sign him. Ultimately, the pull of the Dodgers was too much, and it sounds like they blew everyone else out of the water financially as well.