“Legacy took a big hit today” – Fans left divided as Shohei Ohtani inks ENORMOUS $700 million deal with LA Dodgers

Shohei Ohtani will make $70 million in annual salary from his contract with the LA Dodgers, making him the highest paid player in the sport.

“Legacy took a big hit today” – Fans left divided as Shohei Ohtani inks ENORMOUS $700 million deal with LA Dodgers

Shohei Ohtani (Pic Credit: Imago)

It has finally happened. After weeks and months of speculation, the talks regarding the future of Shohei Ohtani have ended. The Japanese international on Saturday announced that he was joining the Los Angeles Dodgers, sending the fans into a frenzy.

A day before this, MLB reporter Jon Morosi had reported that Ohtani was on his way to Toronto. This could the fans excited as they thought the 2023 AL MVP was signing for the Blue Jays. This report turned out to be inaccurate, leading to Morosi issuing an apology.

However, the bigger picture here was the announcement of Ohtani. The LA Dodgers had been one of the favorites to land the superstar. They have now just done that and added him to an already star-studded team.

Ohtani had been the most sought name in MLB history. His skills as a two-way player have left everyone mesmerized. As a result of this, it was likely that several big market teams would target him once his contract expired with the Los Angeles Angels.

The 29-year-old has now become the highest-paid baseball player in history. For a while, it was expected that his contract would be the biggest in baseball and would be around the range of $500-$600 million. Ohtani’s deal with the Dodgers is around $700 million for 10 years, which has left the fans stunned.

Fans throw in mixed reactions towards Shohei Ohtani’s mega-money move

Following the announcement of this deal, the fans were stunned in silence after finding out the amount involved in this deal. Several fans have criticized the league for not placing a salary cap which has seen the small-budget teams suffer.

While the fans of the LA Dodgers were happy with this signing, the other fanbases expressed their displeasure on such a huge contract. His $700 million 10-year deal will see him make around $70 million a year.

Shohei Ohtani
Shohei Ohtani (Pic Credit: Imago)

Fans on social media have since thrown in mixed reactions with one fan claiming that “legacy took a big hit today,” in reference to Ohtani’s legacy on the game. Check out some other reactions from X as well below:

https://twitter.com/DollarsNSense7/status/1733622707198001182?t=0sl-CeewFwICbi1LJkP8uw&s=19
https://twitter.com/IKparody/status/1733580425950630248?t=DziGREWcsDz_iJRCv9d2qw&s=19

The previous biggest contract offered in MLB belonged to Ohtani’s former teammate Mike Trout who signed a gigantic $426.5 million, 12-year deal with the Angels in 2019. Ohtani now also surpasses veteran pitching duo Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander as the highest-paid athlete in MLB. The former pitching duo of the New York Mets made $43.3 million in annual salary.

Ohtani now joins the Dodgers, a team who are looking to build a dynasty of their own. While the National League side have won the division and reached the playoffs on several occasions before, they have been unable to claim the World Series title in a full 162 game.

Their 2020 triumph came in the shortened 60-game season which has left some wondering if they could ever claim the big one. Ohtani could be the player who can lead them to this glory in the future.

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