The Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes officially ended Saturday when the superstar pitcher and slugger announced on Instagram that he’ll be staying in southern California and will play for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Fans had so many emotions about Ohtani’s announcement, which surely crushed fan bases everywhere as the Dodgers’ World Series odds jumped to the top of the board. But people were also absolutely stunned by the 10-year, $700 million deal, which makes Ohtani the highest-paid athlete in North American sports history, as USA TODAY Sports‘ Bob Nightengale noted.
The monster deal ended a wild week in Major League Baseball in free agency, and it caught the attention of other star athletes, including Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and retired tight end J.J. Watt, who were wowed by the giant price tag.
My goodness.
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) December 9, 2023
Bro like what! 🤣🤣🤣
Congrats to him! https://t.co/kIztMnhoUV
— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) December 9, 2023
start working on those pass rush moves 😂
Imagine being able to do both at an All-Pro level.
Guy is insane.
🤯🤯🤯— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) December 9, 2023
But Mahomes and Watt weren’t the only athletes to take note of this record-breaking contract:
700M’s is crazy!! And he deserves every Penny of that too! Sheesh‼️‼️
— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) December 9, 2023
Good Lord 10 years $700Ms 🤯
— Josh Hart (@joshhart) December 9, 2023
