Perhaps the wildest free agency saga in MLB history has come to an end, as two-way superstar and two-time MVP Shohei Ohtani has agreed to a record-shattering 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
While Ohtani's contract was widely expected to greatly surpass Mike Trout's current MLB record of $426.5 million on his 12-year contract, the deal Ohtani agreed to is also the richest in worldwide professional sports history.
At $700 million, Ohtani's deal surpasses Lionel Messi's $674 million deal with FC Barcelona from 2017-2021 as the largest in sports history.
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Ohtani also obliterated the record for the largest contract in North American professional sports history, blowing away the 10-year, $450 million extension Patrick Mahomes signed with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020.
Though there are reported to be significant deferrals in Ohtani's contract with the Dodgers, the $70 million average annual value dwarfs the previous record set by last year's mammoth nine-year, $360 million deal signed by Aaron Judge with the New York Yankees which has an average annual value of $40 million.
With Ohtani now off the free agency market, other signings are expected to follow in close order, with the superstar's exorbitant price tag setting quite the precedent for the remaining free agents.