When Roki Sasaki sat down for a sushi dinner with Dodgers officials and players last week, days before agreeing to sign with the club in one of the biggest coups of baseball’s offseason, Shohei Ohtani was one of several stars in attendance.
It wasn’t the first time the former Japanese teammates had dined together in recent months.
Throughout Sasaki’s highly anticipated and long-awaited posting process and free agency, the Dodgers knew the main pillars they wanted their courtship to be built upon:
That they were the premier destination for star players.