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by Cameron Moore (6th)

Two of the craziest offseason days in MLB history ended the most anticipating free agent signing in the sport. Friday, December 8th and Saturday, December 9th, 2023 were pure chaos, so why not relive what went down?

On Friday, there was lots of speculation that Ohtani’s signing was waiting to happen. On X/Twitter, MLB news reporters Ben Nicholson-Smith and Alden Gonzalez reported that Ohtani was not signing with a team yet, although both did say that the Blue Jays were frontrunners in the Ohtani sweepstakes.

Suddenly, later that day, Jon Morosi reported on X/Twitter that Shohei Ohtani was planned to go on a private jet to Toronto, which came from multiple other sources, more than assuring he would be a Jay in 2024. However, the MLB, Ohtani’s agents, or the Blue Jays said that they did not have a deal, and CAA, Ohtani’s agency, refused to comment when asked about Shohei Ohtani’s travel plans.

However, after the news leaked, Nicholson-Smith, as well as reporter Bob Nightengale, denied the claims that he was flying to Toronto, stating that he was still home in Southern California. Chaos reigned; the media was back and forth all night, with many flight trackers getting into the action as well.

Saturday: moment of truth. Would he sign today? 

Well, he did. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that afternoon that Ohtani was signing with the Dodgers for 10 years, $700 million. Yes, you heard me right. $700 million, which is the biggest salary in global sports history.

On Monday, however, we got more information! Passan reported that Ohtani and the Dodgers agreed to defer $680 million from his contract, possibly because of his Tommy John recovery and the inability to pitch in 2024.

So, yeah. This was a mess of a weekend. However, this was definitely one of the biggest media wars in recent history, and it ended in the biggest contract in pro sports history.