How Shohei Ohtani's unicorn contract stokes Dodgers' threat to Cardinals' historic NL reign

Best Podcast in Baseball

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Sports, Baseball

4.8 • 673 Ratings

🗓️ 14 December 2023

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Cardinals have 11 World Series titles, most in the National League. Just ask them. But the Dodgers are coming for that crown the Cardinals cling to -- only four behind with 10 years of Shohei Ohtani ahead. "That's the mission statement," says Los Angeles Times baseball writer Bill Shaikin as he joins the Best Podcast in Baseball from the epicenter of Major League Baseball's biggest news of the offseason. Ohtani, the best player in baseball and a two-way superstar unlike any before him, agreed to a radical, record-setting contract that both made him the highest-paid professional athlete ever and also deferred so much money that he will be one of the lowest-paid players on the Dodgers. How is this possible? When is $700 million not really $700 million? Shaikin, who covers the business of baseball for the LA Times and has covered MLB for decades, discusses this with BPIB host and St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The best podcast in baseball is brought to you by Closets by Design.
0:05.5	Update your closet, garage, office, pantry, and more.
0:09.0	Imagine your home totally organized with closets by design.
0:12.6	Call 1-800 by design.
0:14.4	That's 1-800-by-design.
0:17.0	I don't think they look at limits like that, frankly, and I don't mean that to sound arrogant,
0:22.0	but best player in baseball is out there.
0:25.0	You know, why not go get them?
0:26.6	If it a one-year deal, I think absolutely your point would be 100% valid.
0:32.1	But it's a 10-year deal.
0:33.2	So the Dodgers hope that, you know, they're going to let this year take care of that. And in the meantime, you know, have one of the best hitters in the National League of the top of their line.
0:47.5	Hello, everybody.
0:48.2	And welcome to the best podcast in baseball brought to you by Closet by Design of St. Louis.
0:51.7	I'm St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derek Gould.
0:54.3	Join this week by the only person, the best person I could think of to kind of put into context
0:59.0	the past week in the business of baseball.
1:02.5	And that is, of course, Bill Shaken of the Los Angeles Times.
1:05.4	Bill, thank you so much for joining me.
1:08.1	I guess I'll start with this question.
1:09.9	You're right there at the
1:11.5	epicenter of the show you, Atani News. So when is $700 million not worth $700 million?
1:19.1	When you don't get it today. So if, you know, if I give you $700 million, Derek, as much as I would like to be able to do that today, you've got $700 million to spend.
	...

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