Shohei sweepstakes: Reliving Ohtani's historic free-agency pursuit

It seems only appropriate that Shohei Ohtani - a once-in-a-lifetime player - would have a free agency for the ages. The pursuit of the biggest free agent in the sport's history was supposed to be kept private; it was anything but. False reports, tracked flights, and record money all went into what became an incredible - and unintentional - script.

Here's a recap of how everything went down.

July 27: Angels 'roll the dice' at deadline

With the trade deadline days away and the Angels sitting four games out of the final wild-card spot, general manager Perry Minasian declares the team will not trade Ohtani, and instead opts to buy at the deadline.

"We're going to roll the dice and see what happens," Minasian said.

Los Angeles acquires Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López, C.J. Cron, Randal Grichuk, and Dominic Leone. The Angels go 17-38 over the final two months of the season, missing the playoffs by 15 games.

Aug. 24: Ohtani suffers torn UCL

Ohtani, dealing with what was initially believed to be arm fatigue, is diagnosed with a tear in the UCL of his right elbow. Ohtani continues to hit without limitations, slashing .300/.512/.500 over nine games before being shut down for the season after suffering an oblique injury. He goes 0-for-3 in his final game with the Angels on Sept. 3 in Oakland and finishes the season with 44 home runs and an 1.066 OPS in 135 games to go along with a 3.14 ERA across 132 innings.

Sept. 14: Ohtani gets surgery

Ohtani undergoes elbow surgery, and it's revealed he won't pitch at all in 2024. It's his second UCL surgery in five years after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2018. Dodgers team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache performed both surgeries. ElAttrache says Ohtani will be ready to hit come Opening Day and pitch without restrictions the following season. Ohtani's inability to pitch and concern over his elbow leads to some speculation the injury will have massive implications for his free-agent market.

Nov. 14: No leaks allowed

The biggest free-agent pursuit in MLB history will stay under the radar - if Ohtani's agent, Nez Balelo, has his way. ESPN's Jeff Passan says: "If visits between Ohtani and a team are reported publicly, it will be held against the team." The Dodgers, Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, and San Francisco Giants are all expected to be in on Ohtani.

Nov. 16: Ohtani wins 2nd AL MVP

With his dog on his lap - we're still trying to figure out its name - Ohtani accepts his second AL MVP award, winning in unanimous fashion.

He's the first player in history to win multiple MVPs unanimously. Ohtani is supposed to speak with reporters following the announcement but is unable to do so due to technical difficulties.

Nov. 29: Ohtani reportedly knows where he wants to go

Speculation begins to ramp up with the winter meetings days away. There's been almost no information leaked through the media, though Buster Olney of ESPN says he believes that Ohtani already knows where he wants to go but "his agent is actually just playing it out to get leverage."

Olney believes the Dodgers are the favorites to sign Ohtani, but recent reports indicate the Toronto Blue Jays have been aggressive in their pursuit.

Dec. 3: Multiple bids over $500M

Ohtani's elbow injury doesn't appear to have hurt his market. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that Ohtani has received "multiple bids well north of $500 million." Heyman adds there's talk Ohtani could land over $600 million. That would shatter Aaron Judge's record $360-million deal signed last season with the Yankees. It would also blow by Mike Trout's $426.5-million extension.

Dec. 4: Ohtani wouldn't go back to the Angels, right?

It's believed Ohtani's desire to win is his driving factor, so returning to the Angels seems pretty far-fetched. Los Angeles didn't reach the postseason in any of Ohtani's six seasons, but Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports that a return to the Angels "remains a realistic possibility."

Dec. 5: Ohtani meets with Jays in Florida

With momentum picking up, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that it's believed Ohtani met with the Blue Jays at the team's spring training facility in Florida. The club spent significant money overhauling the complex and uses it as a major selling point to free agents.

The Blue Jays don't confirm the meeting took place, though general manager Ross Atkins is forced to move his in-person media availability to Zoom as he's not yet at the winter meetings. This fuels speculation that Atkins was somewhere meeting with Ohtani.

Dec. 5: Roberts lets everyone know Dodgers met with Ohtani

Dave Roberts doesn't seem to care about the request for no information to be leaked. The Dodgers skipper stuns everyone at the winter meetings when he says the team met with Ohtani "a couple days ago" and calls the star the team's "top priority."

Later that evening, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports:

Roberts spoke freely and relaxed for 20 minutes, but his face became serious as he spent several moments reading a text message on his phone after his session. He immediately huddled with Dodgers’ public relations officials.

Shortly after Roberts' comments, GM Brandon Gomes speaks with the media but doesn't confirm any meeting with Ohtani took place. He acknowledges he was "surprised" by Roberts' comments. Could Roberts' honesty cost the Dodgers their shot at Ohtani?

Dec. 6: A secret team?

What does Ryan Dempster know? Forget a mystery team, what is a secret team? Does the pitcher-turned-broadcaster know something, or is he just playing with us all?

Dec. 8: The plane, the plane

This is where things really go off the rails.

Social-media sleuths have some fun in the morning tracking a private jet from John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California, to Toronto. There's unconfirmed speculation that maybe Ohtani is traveling to Canada to potentially finalize a deal with the Blue Jays. It is, after all, the anniversary of the date he originally signed with the Angels. There are other tweets from random accounts claiming Yusei Kikuchi made a 50-person reservation for dinner that night. It's the best, and worst, of X, formerly known as Twitter.

And then, a bombshell out of California.

J.P. Hoornstra of Dodgers Nation reports Ohtani has picked the Blue Jays and that a formal announcement is expected "as early as tonight."

As the X platform buzzes, things become real - or at least are believed to be real - when Jon Morosi of MLB Network tweets that Ohtani is making his way to Toronto, though the player's agency will not comment.

And then comes the Bob bomb.

Ohtani isn't on the flight. It's actually Robert Herjavec, a Canadian businessman, who also stars on "Dragons' Den" and "Shark Tank." Herjavec later admits he had no idea what was going on when he landed in Toronto, as he wasn't on his phone during the flight. He says when border agents realized he wasn't Ohtani, they were so disappointed that they didn't even ask for his passport.

Morosi later apologizes for reporting "inaccurate information."

Dec. 10: Ohtani announces he's signing with Dodgers

Who needs baseball insiders? At 3:03 p.m. ET on Saturday, Ohtani announces on Instagram that he's signing with the Dodgers. The deal is for $700 million over 10 years. (That, of course, is slightly misleading). It's easily the largest contract in MLB history.

Dec: 10: So, what the hell happened?

Hoornstra and Dodgers Nation say that following their initial report stating the Blue Jays were signing Ohtani, "The Dodgers made one last offer to Ohtani representing a significant increase from their previous offer. Ohtani formally accepted that offer after the Friday night meeting."

Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated reports the Dodgers held meetings after the reports broke that Ohtani had chosen Toronto and that it "created angst among the Los Angeles executives."

So, depending on what you believe, the reports that the Blue Jays were nearing a deal with Ohtani may have given the Dodgers the urgency needed to get the deal over the line.

Several days later, however, Giants GM Farhan Zaidi tells reporters he called Ohtani's agent immediately after the plane tweet and was told Ohtani was not on the flight.

So were the Blue Jays used for leverage? It depends who you ask.

Ohtani thanked each team that was part of the negotiation process but did not mention any club by name aside from the Dodgers and Angels. He likely wouldn't have traveled to Florida to check out the Blue Jays facility if there wasn't some level of interest. Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reports the Blue Jays were "right there" with the Dodgers in terms of their offer, but he doesn't provide a specific number.

Zaidi also says the Giants made an almost identical offer to the one Ohtani signed.

Olney says the Blue Jays made a strong pitch but were always trailing the Dodgers.

"I do believe that there was a lot of disinformation used, some reporters were used, stuff was leaked to them ... and did allow them to give the specter of being closer to a deal with the Blue Jays, and then it allowed CAA to go to the Dodgers and basically say, 'Look, we want this deal structure, let's work towards this deal structure,'" Olney reported.

Heyman adds there's a feeling "among some Jays people that maybe they were 'used,' which looks like a definite likelihood at this point."

Toronto's yet to publicly comment.

Dec. 11: Wait, this is allowed?

The most shocking news of the entire Ohtani frenzy comes Monday when it's announced he's deferring $680 million of his $700-million contract. He'll earn $2 million in each of his 10 years under contract with the Dodgers and then will be paid $68 million each year from 2034-43. This prevents Los Angeles from being burdened by Ohtani's record deal and allows the team to build out the roster while not dealing with extreme luxury-tax penalties. Ohtani's average annual value is calculated at $46 million per season as opposed to $70 million for luxury-tax purposes.

While some fans initially protest that this type of contract structure can't possibly be permitted, Passan quickly informs the masses that it's within the rules: MLB explicitly doesn't limit how much money a team can defer. In fact, the Dodgers already deferred significant money on the contracts of Mookie Betts ($115 million) and Freddie Freeman ($57 million). Betts will be paid up until 2044, and Freeman until 2040.

Dec. 13: Ohtani's contract is tank proof

Ohtani makes sure to protect himself with language in his contract that ensures the Dodgers remain competitive. He's got the ability to opt out of his deal if owner Mark Walter or president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman are no longer with the club.

So in the end, Ohtani gets a shocking deal with a team that was the favorite to land him all along. What were supposed to be hushed negotiations turned into absolute chaos.

Sports are meant to be entertaining. They're going to break your heart. Ohtani's roller-coaster ride of a free agency was all of that. And in the middle of December, baseball was the focus of the sports world.