2023 Is The Year Of Ohtani - And It's Great For Baseball
Two-way star's free agency storyline is exactly what MLB needs...
It feels like we’re on the precipice of witnessing something truly historic and special in baseball. And it’s all down to one man.
Shohei Ohtani.
I’ve never been more excited for a baseball season than I am for 2023. I don’t know if it’s because it is the first normal season we’ve had in a while and we’re currently getting to enjoy a full schedule spring training without an impending lockout or COVID-19 to ravage it. I don’t know if it’s because I’m really intrigued by the bevy of rule changes that the powers that be hope will revitalize the sport. It might be because the new schedule changes are going to add a really fun wrinkle to the season where every team will play each other at least once and we’ll see some of the game’s true heavyweights get a chance to pit their wits against each other in a way that wasn’t possible before under the old format.
Or it could be because I’m more than ready for another year of Ohtani absolutely dominating the sport and wowing us with out-of-this-world talents that seem too good for a mere mortal.
Ohtani fever has firmly gripped the baseball world for a while now, but it does seem clear that the two-way superstar is about to elevate the game to new heights. All on his own too.
It is already the biggest and most talked about story of spring training, but Ohtani is set to become a free agent after after the 2023 season. If he does, don’t be surprised if he becomes the first $500 million man in baseball.
After all, he signed a one-year, $30 million million contract with the Los Angeles Angels for the 2023 season. It was the largest-ever one-year contract dished out to an arbitration-eligible player, beating out the $27 million given to Mookie Betts by the Boston Red Sox in January 2020.
It is also a precursor of things to come.
He’s that good, and he’s going to have all of MLB lusting after him and driving up the asking price even more.
This is only going to be a good thing for baseball. Amidst the constant debates about whether or not the sport is about to hit an iceberg and sink faster than the Titanic, the cheating scandals that have engulfed it far too many times, the game becoming regional with not enough young fans watching and MLB not being able to get out of its own way, an all-conquering, swashbuckling two-way talent of the likes we’ve never seen before has emerged, and he’s taken over the game of baseball with so much swagger that you just have to sit back and admire him as he does his thing.
Ohtani will be the focus of everybody’s attention in 2023. Every time he steps up to the plate, every time he gets on the mound and every time he pulls off the unthinkable - which will be often - the sports world will be watching and his captivating march towards free agency should only breathe new life into baseball.
There’s no doubt that Ohtani and his camp realizes they have a huge opportunity on their hands right now. It is no secret that baseball has a major, major marketability issue. Mike Trout - Ohtani’s teammate with the Angels - could walk down a crowded street and he’d hardly get noticed at all. Heck, I don’t think Aaron Judge would get much attention if it wasn’t for the fact he’s an absolute giant and built like an NFL linebacker. The NHL has the same problem. Connor McDavid could walk into a Starbucks or a Dunkin’s and not cause much of a ripple despite the fact he’s the closest thing to a reincarnation of the great Wayne Gretzky as we’ve seen.
But that should change with Ohtani. He should be seen as baseball’s shining light - it’s savior in many ways. He is now driving the sport forward and attracting a brand new audience because of his two-way brilliance.
He’s majestic on the mound, rotating through a lethal arsenal of five pitches with his splitter and upper-90s four-seam fastball causing absolute destruction to opposing hitters. Then there’s Ohtani the hitter. There’s not a more graceful sight than that of the two-time All-Star unleashing a vicious swing and launching an absolute moonshot into the stars.
And he does it all with a smile too.
Ohtani is doing things in baseball that hasn’t been seen since the days of Babe Ruth. That was over a century ago. In a day where the game is ruled by overzealous nerds with laptops, crunching numbers and doing everything within their power to remove feel and instinct from baseball, Ohtani plays with heart and passion and joy.
He makes baseball fun and he’s inspiring a new generation of fans to get invested in the game. Ohtani truly is a five-tool player and he does it all. While there were those who doubted the unicorn could combine both hitting and pitching for a sustained period of time, Ohtani has silenced those doubters in the most emphatic of ways. He won the AL MVP in 2021 and then followed that up with another superhuman display of excellence in 2022, slashing .273/.356/.519 with 34 homers, 11 stolen bases and 95 RBI. He was equally as electric on the mound, pitching to a 2.33 ERA with a 15-9 record and 219 strikeouts in 166 innings.
Ohtani is the very pinnacle of the sport right now. We’re witnessing true, never-before-seen, unprecedented greatness every time he steps onto a baseball diamond. And it will never, ever get old or boring.
Shohei Ohtani is a true once-in-a-lifetime gift from the baseball gods. One we should never, ever take for granted.
The only thing missing from his already glistening resume is a trip to the postseason. Despite being one of the most freakishly talented players the sport has ever seen, and despite being paired with another blue-chip, never-will-we-see-again phenom in Mike Trout, Ohtani has never sniffed the postseason. He’s not even gotten close. Trout himself has only been to the playoffs once and that was way back in 2014. The Angels have been a dumpster fire for a sustained period of time now. They’ve finished a combined 161 games out of first place over the last several years, and they’ve finished higher than third in the AL West on just one occasion.
That amount of losing, that amount of sucking and that amount of underachieving will take its toll on any player at some point, no matter their standing in the game. For a player at the very peak of his powers with the world at their fingertips like Ohtani, not winning has already started to grate. And it gets old very, very quickly.
He spoke to the media at the start of spring training last week and made it clear that he wants to play for a true contender that gives him the best chance of winning every day. Ohtani’s agent, Nez Balelo, heavily suggested to the media on Monday that his client will explore free agency after this season.
And that’s why 2023 is going to be such a fun season to watch, but also a critical one when it comes to the future of the sport.
With every team facing each other this year and then moving forward, more eyes will be on Ohtani than ever before and people are going to tune in to see him ball out in what will be a contract year. There will be legitimate interest in the Angels and their one-year mission to try and persuade their most prized asset that they can do other things besides losing.
Ohtani’s potential free agency is going to be the hottest storyline throughout 2023 and it is one that will attract national attention, which in turn will keep baseball interesting for those who may start to drift away midway through a slog of a 162-game regular season.
And, if Ohtani does opt to hit the open market as we all now fully expect, it should help to energize a huge event that has largely been a dud for MLB. Baseball Free Agency can’t even hold a candle to the thrill-ride that is NBA Free Agency, where a flurry of deals are signed in the opening hours and stars are constantly on the move. Even NHL Free Agency, which is modest in its own right, is more exciting than the slow-burn version we see in baseball.
Ohtani becoming available and having every single big hitter launch a relentless pursuit will put MLB firmly under the spotlight. It will become a must-watch story every single minute of every single day and it will captivate non-baseball fans too and get fresh eyes on the sport.
This is exactly what baseball needs at exactly the right time.
Then just imagine what would happen if Ohtani signs for the Mets or the Dodgers, or any powerhouse big market team. Already worth at least an extra $20 million more to the Angels through licensing and merchandise sales alone, Ohtani’s brand would explode in New York, LA or even Chicago.
That in itself would also prove to be extremely beneficial for baseball and could help to launch the sport into a new era. That’s the hope anyway.
For the baseball purists out there - and we do still exist - we will always love this game but it is in a tricky spot right now. It is in dire need of an injection of excitement and Shohei Ohtani is providing that with his sheer majestic prowess on the baseball field and his movie star-like profile away from the diamond.
Ohtani is on the cusp of breaking into a new echelon of greatness and his journey to becoming baseball’s first $500 million man is going to be good for everyone. It’s going to help put baseball back on the national map and it is going to help make the 2023 season perhaps one of the most memorable we’ve witnessed for a while.
It’s Shohei Ohtani’s world and we’re just living in it.
