Shohei Ohtani just got paid.
The baseball superstar just agreed to a jaw-dropping 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday, making him the highest-paid athlete in North American sports history, as USA TODAY Sports‘ Bob Nightengale noted.
In fact, Ohtani’s deal is worth much, much more than the previous record deal in the MLB, Mike Trout’s $426.5 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels, Ohtani’s previous team. The two-way star now has the largest contract by total value in MLB history, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
After a long sweepstakes process, Ohtani has finally cashed in with the biggest MLB deal ever, which puts immediate pressure on the Dodgers to win as many World Series as they possibly can.
Shohei Ohtani overtakes Mike Trout's 12-year, $426.5M deal for the largest contract by total value in MLB history.
Ohtani's $70M AAV is by far the highest in MLB history. Last season, the Orioles ($60.9M) and Athletics ($56.9M) each had opening day payrolls below that mark. https://t.co/HOBNPQLwlE pic.twitter.com/8jhtThDJUe
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 9, 2023
Ohtani is clearly worth the money as he’s the best baseball player in the world, but MLB fans still couldn’t believe any athlete could make this much money with one new contract.
