Ohtani’s Origin Story: Shohei Ohtani Shares Behind the Scenes Insight on His…

The 2024 MLB season saw the Los Angeles Dodgers finally win it all in a full season. In their triumph, Shohei Ohtani played a major part as he smashed records right and left. The Japanese star has now opened up about his first season with the team.

Almost a year ago, Ohtani penned down a massive $700 million deal with the Dodgers. This saw him become the highest-paid player in the league. Expectations also rose on the team shoulder’s to go out there and win it all after his signing.

The team managed to do what many expected from them. The Dodgers claimed their eighth World Series crown by beating the New York Yankees 4-1 in the World Series. Ohtani’s performances throughout the entire year earned him several accolades including the National League MVP.

In an interview with Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the 30-year-old expressed that this season exceeded his expectations. After winning the World Series title, Ohtani was unsure what more he could have asked for in his debut season.

This exceeded my expectations. Obviously the first time I made the playoffs. We won the World Series. What more can you ask for?

Shohei Ohtani said as per his interpreter Matt Hidaka

In the 2024 season, Ohtani founded the 50-50 club as he became the first player in the league’s history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases. The 4-time MLB All-Star can have a much bigger impact next season as he will take to the mound again.

After undergoing a Tommy John surgery, Ohtani did not pitch in the entire 2024 season. Coach Dave Roberts has expressed that the team will start to ‘ramp up‘ for his return to pitching as the Dodgers will aim to defend their World Series crown.

Shohei Ohtani comments on his deferred money with LA Dodgers

The term ‘deferred’ has made a lot of headlines in recent weeks. The Los Angeles Dodgers have several contracts with players where a huge amount of money is deferred for the future. Shohei Ohtani broke his silence regarding this during the interview with USA Today.

Ohtani stunned the world when he agreed to defer $680 million from his $700 million deal. The designated hitter will earn $2 million per year until the expiration of his contract. From the 2034 season, he will start receiving $68 million every year until 2043.

While commenting on this, Ohtani claimed that he and the Dodgers executives made a ‘promise’ with each other to put on the best team on the field. Thus in order to do so, Ohtani suggested to defer around 97 per cent of his contract.

You know, Mark (Walter), Andrew (Friedman), the owners, we all made a promise to each other that we would go out and create the best team to put out on the field. And we were able to win the World Series, so in that sense we were able to keep our promise towards each other.

Shohei Ohtani said

The Dodgers have continued to use this strategy of using deferrals in the 2025 season. The team recently announced the signing of Blake Snell and a contract extension of Tommy Edman . Both of these stars have deferred money in their contracts. As of now, the Dodgers have over $1 billion in deferrals.

The team is also reported to be getting closer to re-signing Teoscar Hernandez. It now remains to be seen whether he will have also deferred money in his contract if he comes back to the Dodgers.