Some humble thoughts / questions:
1. The Dodgers are going to have a menacing top of the order. Do you bat Ohtani second or third?
2. I think that whether Ohtani becomes a villain in the sport depends on how he handles himself, both on the field and off. If he starts to suck at the plate, that would obviously make everyone look bad. But if he performs like he has over the past three years at the plate and the Dodgers win the pennant (or more) next year, I think the headline $700 million figure will fade into the background. I reference again the poll done by The Athletic which found that 45% of major league players would choose to build a team around him. That kind of says a lot.
Off the field, if he douches out, that would be bad. But as others have pointed out, he seems to be widely adored, and that is usually not the case for closet douchebags. I wouldn't be surprised if you start seeing Ohtani-funded youth baseball programs not only in Japan (which he's done), but also in the LA area. Those sorts of actions will probably help him as well.
3. Someone implied that Ohtani's value is propped up by racial and nationalistic factors. I suppose there is some truth to that given how much Ohtani means to Japan (a huge economy with a relatively affluent fan base) and the Asian American baseball fan base in the US. But I'll go out on a limb and say that the hype around Ohtani would be same if not more if he were a white or black American.
4. I think people hate the Yankees because they've won 27 titles and the visceral disdain that Mets and Red Sox fans feel toward them are magnified in the media and the cultural lexicon. I suspect that a lot of people also find it annoying that the Yankees are the preferred team for non-baseball people trying to appropriate baseball culture. You know, like those fashionista types who are photographed wearing the pink, sparkly NY caps -- and the politicians....
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12-10-2023, 08:50 PM
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