I never thought the chances of Shohei Ohtani coming to the Cubs were very good. The Dodgers had been planning to sign him for at least two years now. He was already familiar with Southern California and the Dodgers are in the playoffs every year, which is, beyond money, what he was looking for. Japanese players also generally have a preference for the West Coast, although as Seiya Suzuki showed, that’s not universal. But I always thought that as long as the Dodgers met the price he was looking for, he was going there no matter how much money anyone else offered.
Outside The Confines: 700 million
