Shohei Ohtani is not just one of the best active baseball players in MLB, Ohtani is also an athlete accomplishing things on par with the great Babe Ruth as a two-way versatile baseball player who can pitch games and hit the ball. Despite hurting his UCL, Ohtani’s hitting kept getting better. Unfortunately, Ohtani’s current team, the Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim, is not the best team to make a serious run for the World Series and won’t be able to keep the once-in-a-lifetime talent in their lineup while more competitive teams will vie to add the phenom to a true title contender team which can help Ohtani hoist the Commissioner’s Trophy. It also doesn’t help the Angels that they haven’t made a postseason appearance since 2014.
Here are the 5 MLB Teams Who Are Contenders To Sign Shohei Ohtani… And 5 Who Are Just Pretenders:
Contenders: New York Yankees
The Yankees finished the 2023 season with an 82-80 record and missed out on the post-season with an injury-plagued roster that hurt their chances of competing for a chance to get to the World Series. This would be the perfect home for Ohtani because the Yankees have the money and power to make a deal for and get him the contract he needs to keep him in pinstripes. It would also make the Yankees World Series favorites with a lineup consisting of Aaron Judge and Ohtani knocking balls out of the park.
Pretenders: Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays are an AL East team that can be a hit or a miss depending on how their entire season turns out. Ohtani would join a constantly rebuilding Rays organization, but they would have to burn their entire farm system down to obtain him in free agency. The Rays acquiring Ohtani now would help in the short term of winning a championship, but would also hurt the Rays long-term as they would have to trade away their top prospects who would help shape the Rays into a consistent AL East competitor to other franchises for years to come.
Contenders: Los Angeles Dodgers
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Much like the Yankees, the Dodgers have the money and capital to make a move to lure Ohtani away from the Angels. The move would potentially help the Dodgers truly compete and win more World Series titles and finally make the Dodgers an NL powerhouse. The Dodgers also get bonus points for Ohtani wanting to stay in Southern California and be a part of a true winner. Ohtani in a blue Dodgers uniform sounds like a strong win for baseball.
Pretenders: Chicago Cubs
The Cubs haven’t been the same since their historic 2016 World Series victory. They have made the postseason three times since then and haven’t been back in the postseason since their 2020 Wildcard appearance where they lost to the Miami Marlins 2-0. Adding Ohtani would help the Cubs in the short term by winning the NL Central, but they would have to give up a lot to obtain Ohtani’s talent which could hurt the Cubs long term. On top of that, the Cubs aren’t usually the heavy spenders in baseball like the New York Mets, LA Dodgers, and NY Yankees are in free agency and trades since they aren’t in the top 10 in the MLB payroll. Sorry Cubs fans, you sadly will never see Ohtani dawn a Cubs jersey on the mound at Wrigley Field.
Contenders: Seattle Mariners
The Mariners may not be the flashiest teams in all of baseball, but they have a young core led by Luis Rodriguez who has helped the Mariners reach the MLB Postseason for the first time since 2001 during the 2022 season. If Ohtani joins the Mariners, he can make them a true threat to the Houston Astros for the AL West crown and more. The Mariners have great ties to Japan as Ichiro Suzuki played a majority of his career with the Mariners and the team was owned by Nintendo of America which is a Japanese video game company that saved the Mariners from relocation. With all of that, Ohtani would bring a winning spirit to a team that hasn’t had much success since the 2001 season.
Pretenders: San Francisco Giants
Ohtani potentially taking his talents to the San Francisco Bay area would turn the NL West upside down and take the Giants-Dodgers rivalry to new levels, but sadly that wouldn’t happen. The Giants are playing the long game of rebuilding their team to where it once was during their 2010 dynasty year. The team can’t afford to lose talent like Patrick Bailey or Kyle Harrison, and the ownership has their spending limits if they did try to offer Ohtani a contract to dawn the black and orange. The Giants also don’t have as much star power as they used to for talent like Ohtani to possibly join the Bay Area. Although it would help attract other stars to join years from now. Ohtani wants to be on a team that’s in win-now mode.
Contenders: Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox have been a team that has had championship-winning seasons mixed in with last-place finishes in recent years. Potentially landing Ohtani can make the Red Sox last place finishes a thing of the past and truly move on from dealing Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The AL East is arguably one of baseball’s most competitive divisions and having Ohtani in the division, not in New York Yankees pinstripes can truly ignite this historic rivalry to new levels of fierce competition between the two clubs.
Pretenders: San Diego Padres
The Padres have become a surprise team in the NL West in recent years by acquiring Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts, respectively. So, bringing in Ohtani would be the next big move for the Padres. Right? Wrong. The Padres have to deal with trying to keep Juan Soto, Blake Snell, and Josh Hader in town if they want to keep being competitive in the NL West. Yes, adding Ohtani would make the Padres one of the scariest-hitting teams in the NL, but they still have to wait for Ohtani to recover from his UCL tear in order to see his true once-in-a-lifetime talent in action. It just isn’t possible for San Diego with Machado’s 11-year $350 million contract taking up a lot of the Padres’ time away from adding Ohtani.
Contenders: New York Mets
They may not have the championships like their crosstown rival Yankees, but the Mets have the highest payroll in all of baseball for the 2023 season. With that money comes a chance to lure Ohtani to the largest sports market in the Big Apple. If Ohtani signs with the Mets, he will invigorate a franchise that gets hyped up throughout the series and could potentially deliver results the Mets faithful have been looking for. The Mets are focusing on developing their younger talent within their farm system, but it wouldn’t stop the Mets from adding the once in lifetime talent like Ohtani to join their team with the power of Steve Cohen’s aggressive wallet that can make New York Mets baseball even more exciting.
Pretenders: Texas Rangers
The Rangers have been an interesting team in the MLB for the last couple of years. The last time they were truly relevant was in 2010 and 2011 when they made back-to-back World Series appearances and lost both of those series to the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals. The Rangers recently added the likes of Jacob Degrom and Nathan Evoldi in the 2022 free-agency period. Those signings may be a signal that could attract Ohtani to the Lone Star state, but in a division that has the Houston Astros and the upcoming Seattle Mariners, Ohtani joining the Rangers would be similar to Ohtani being on LA Angels teams that has good talent, but can’t make it to the postseason.
