He wasn't alive throughout Beatlemania. Nor was I sufficiently old and even alive to know or expertise Fernandomania.

But, even with the Forrest Gumpian facets of my life, the daybreak of a revelation is upon us all: one thing large is occurring, one thing we are able to't totally see round or see the affect of one thing unfolding forward. to our eyes.

The 2024 Dodgers make their common season debut on the world stage.

And on the middle of the storm is the Dodgers' $700 million man: Shohei Ohtani.

Six months in the past, this storm would have been unthinkable. However after the 2023 NLDS flop towards the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers lastly did one thing that was fearful that the group was unable to do: they opened their checkbook, regarded the League of their eyes collective, and mentioned: No extra.

It's been about three months for the reason that Dodgers bought their man, as hearts in Toronto, San Francisco, San Diego, Anaheim, and all through the league have been shattered right into a thousand items.

It was all Ohtani, on a regular basis, from his introduction at Dodger Stadium to his first sport at Camelback Ranch. Use this swing all; we’re going to see rather a lot within the subsequent decade.

Critically, it's wonderful what you are able to do if you actually attempt.

Beginning on March seventh, the Dodgers will look to bolster their group via each payroll and commerce. The remainder of the league, not a lot. Nonetheless, with all of the chilly arduous information in entrance of you, some gained't cease complaining that the Dodgers are ruining baseball. I don't consider them.

Even with all of the expectations, with all of the doubt, it's nonetheless unusual to say that Shohei Ohtani is a Dodger.

All of the humor, all the eye, all of the hype, all of the endorsements. Ohtani is basically a media and sports activities ecosystem unto itself, which we'll have the subsequent decade to dissect and analyze to our coronary heart's content material.

Not unhealthy, for under $2 million a yr.

(Sure, $68 million is deferred, which allowed the Dodgers to signal or prolong the likes of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Teoscar Hernandez and Clayton Kershaw.) Actually, as Dodger followers, we've by no means seen something like Ohtani first. And sure, that assertion consists of Kershaw, Cody Bellinger and Mookie Betts. It's arduous to argue with a building-sized mural on the Miyako Lodge in Los Angeles' Japantown.

Surprisingly, the Dodgers are arguably solely getting half of Ohtani's expertise since he gained't be capable to pitch in 2024.

Numerous inks will likely be spilled describing Ohtani's profession as a Dodger going ahead, a lot much less the outcomes of subsequent season. In mid-March, imagining a end in October/November is insanity.

However what appears plain is that this statement: the arrival of Ohtani appears like a demarcation of the period on the group in the identical manner as Jackie Robinson or Valenzuela or the arrival of Kershaw.

But even that comparability feels off. True greatness is one thing that comes so not often, and now that Ohtani has been free of the mediocre, incompetent doldrums of Anaheim, the league can lastly see what this man can do on a baseball diamond.

Even now, Ohtani's arrival in Los Angeles is sending merchandise off the cabinets at a report tempo and the Los Angeles Instances has now reported that out of each 5 tickets bought on StubHub to a Dodgers sport this yr, a type of tickets are purchased by somebody. in Japan. Ticket costs for Dodgers video games have skyrocketed within the early a part of the yr and it’s seemingly that costs will stay at a fever pitch because the 2024 season unfolds.

At this level, we’re seemingly witnessing one thing we have now actually by no means seen earlier than. That's nice information for Dodgers followers and horrible information for the remainder of the league.

A storm is coming and its identify is Shohei Ohtani.



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