BREAKING: Two-time MVP Shohei Ohtani signs with Los Angeles Dodgers

Two-time American League MVP Shohei Ohtani, the most coveted free agent of not just this offseason but possibly in Major League Baseball history, has a new home.

He’s now a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The deal is reportedly for $700M dollars over 10 years, an average annual value of $70M, with significant amounts of deferred money, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Ohtani, 29, is considered to be the most unique player in Major League Baseball history. Capable of being both an elite offensive hitter and a top-of-the rotation starter, he’s the type of dual sensation the likes of which MLB’s never seen.

(The most frequent two-way comparison, Babe Ruth, began his career predominately pitching before converting to mostly hitting for the 1918 season. He made only 38 starts after the 1917 season, with 705 of his 714 career homers coming in 1918 or later.)

Over the last three seasons, Ohtani’s hit 124 home runs, including leading the American League with 44 in 2023. He has a .277/.379/.585 slashline during that stretch, including a MLB-leading 1.066 OPS in 2023.

In that same three-season stretch, he’s 34-16 with a 284 ERA in 74 starts, striking out 542 batters in his 428.1 innings (11.4 K/9) while walking 143 (3.0 BB/9).

After suffering a tear of his right UCL (his throwing arm) in late August, Ohtani went an unspecified repair procedure (believed to be his 2nd career Tommy John surgery) in September and will only hit in 2024. It’s assumed he would return to the mound in 2025, but there’s a much smaller track record of players successfully returning from a second Tommy John surgery (if that’s, in fact what the repair procedure was).