Mariners New Favorite to Land Ohtani

Mariners New Favorite to Land Ohtani

Last week, I wrote about how the Yankees were favored to sign Japanese two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani. However, this past weekend he made a list of finalists and the poor Yankees were not on it. I guess they’ll just have to wait until next offseason when they sign Bryce Harper for $500 million.

Bovada has come out with a new list of odds. Hey…I’ll write anything if it gives me an excuse to draw another Microsoft Paint hat (please note that the Mariners’ hat is far more difficult to draw than any other I’ve attempted before.)

The Mariners, originally tied for the second best odds, are the new favorite. Given the proximity to Japan, Ichiro and other Japanese players’ success there, and the fact that they could offer him some at-bats at DH are likely the reason why they are at the top of the list. In fact, of the seven finalists, the three American League teams all have better odds than the four National League teams.

The Rangers, former home of World Series choker Yu Darvish, are next at +250. I don’t see Arlington, Texas as a sought-after place to live for a young Japanese man, but what do I know. It seemed to work out for Darvish.

The Angels have something that no other team can offer: the chance to play with the best baseball player in the world. Given the team’s poor success and lack of playoff appearances in Mike Trout’s career, they are probably dying to sign Ohtani. Trout has three seasons left on his contract and I’m guessing that he’d probably bail and head elsewhere if the Angels can’t establish a strong core and winning atmosphere around him in the interim.

We’ll likely know the answer to this prop sooner rather than later. Ohtani is already meeting with his finalists and I wouldn’t be shocked if this prop is only up for a day or two. Get that money down and get it down now!