Shohei Ohtani plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers now, and he’ll do so on a team-friendly $2 million salary (no, seriously, $680 million of Ohtani’s record-breaking 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers was deferred). Now, Ohtani and the Dodgers have set another record.
It was revealed Wednesday that Ohtani’s jersey sales on Fanatics skyrocketed to the point where it set a new record for a 48-hour period. Global soccer icon Lionel Messi set the previous record after news broke that he was joining Inter Miami in July.
Ohtani is coming off a season that saw him win American League MVP honors for the second time in three years. At the plate, the two-way superstar totaled 44 home runs, 95 RBIs and 20 stolen bases, while posting a .304/.412/.654 slash line across 135 games. He also posted a 3.14 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 167 strikeouts across 132.0 innings (23 starts).
Ohtani’s 2023 campaign was cut short in August due to a season-ending UCL tear, which is expected to keep him off the mound through 2025 but allow him to hit for the 2024 season.
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Ohtani, 29, is a two-time MVP recipient, three-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger and was the 2018 AL Rookie of the Year.
After missing the playoffs with the Los Angeles Angels across his first six MLB seasons (2018-23), Ohtani joins a Dodgers club that has made the playoffs in each of the past 11 seasons, won the NL West in 10 of the last 11 seasons and won the 2020 World Series. That said, they were swept by the eventual National League-champion Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL Divisional round last season.
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