Shohei Ohtani is now a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He doesn't have to leave the city he has been in for the past six years. He can still do pretty much everything he did with the Angels. He won't be able to pitch this upcoming season, but he can still hit. He makes the Dodgers the unequivocal favorites heading into next season. And he is making an ungodly amount of money over the next 10 years.

For people who don't know yet, Ohtani's deal with the Dodgers is 10 years, 700 million dollars. He will make close to a billion dollars just on this contract. I assume he will get to the billions with endorsement deals. But he gets all this money for being an exceptionally talented baseball player. That is wild and cool as hell. When I was a kid this amount of money would have made me angry. I got all bent out of shape when Alex Rodriguez signed his humongous deal with the Rangers. But as I have gotten older, I'm way more into players getting whatever they can, as much as they can, while they can. Ohtani is a once in a generation player. He is doing things on a baseball field that we have not seen since the early 1900's. The fact that he can be a DH one day and pitch the next, that is unbelievable to me. Add on the fact that he does both at the highest level, and dominates at them, I mean, Ohtani should take as much money as he possibly can. A team like the Dodgers can afford a contract like this. The MLB has no salary cap, but they have to be able to pay the players based on how much they can sell tickets, food and merchandise, among many other things. The Dodgers may be the best equipped for a deal like this. There are going to be so many Ohtani jerseys and hats and bobbleheads and anything else they can put his face and name on at their home games next season. Hell, they will be at opponents games as well. I would bet all the money I have that I will see as many Ohtani jerseys as Paul Goldschmidt jerseys at a Cardinals-Dodgers game next season. The same could be said at most other stadiums. Paying him the money on this deal will be no problem for the Dodgers.

As for Ohtani, I applaud him. It would have been cool if he had gone to Toronto or Seattle. I would have been stoked if he came to Saint Louis. He was already in LA, but the Dodgers give him a much better shot at a World Series appearance. The Angels weren't going to get him there. They haven't been able to even crack the playoffs. They have two other worldly players in Ohtani and Mike Trout, yet they could never get to the important part of the year. Ohtani will be almost assured a playoff spot now. You put him in that rotation with Clayton Kershaw, ooh that is tough. Then you add him to that lineup with Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and Mookie Betts, my oh my will that be a potent, homerun crushing trio. The Dodgers are going for it, clearly. Ohtani is getting paid, clearly. This is a win for all parties involved. I think we all knew Ohtani was going to go to a big market. I accepted that early on. I think the Dodgers have had their eye on him since last season began and they thought he might be available. Both parties got what they wanted in the end, and that is a good thing.

I will still be in and out of MLB games next season. But if I do tune in, I think I will watch as many Dodgers games that Ohtani plays in, and I will love it. This is a homerun of a deal for everyone. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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