New-look Dodgers depart for world tour

The Los Angeles Dodgers, surrounded by suitcases and boxes throughout the clubhouse, cleaned out their lockers, double-checked to make sure they had their passports, and prepared for the longest flight of their lives.

After playing their final game of spring training Wednesday, were instructed to be at their spring-training complex at 6:30 a.m. for a 6,277-mile flight to Seoul, Korea, where they will open perhaps their most-anticipated season in franchise history on March 20 in the Gocheok Sky Dome against the San Diego Padres.

This is a team that spent a record $1.1 billion in free agency, building a team that could be the envy of baseball, filled with future Hall of Famers, MVPs and All-Stars.

“Let’s be honest,” says former MVP Mookie Betts, “we all know why they’re here. It’s not like they’re coming to watch me, you know what I’m saying. We all know why people are coming.”

Yes, their names are Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, two international stars who have captivated the sporting world.

Los Angeles signed Yamamoto to a 12-year, $325 million contract in December. The 25-year-old won Japan’s pitching Triple Crown for the third straight season in 2023 and earned his third straight Eeiji Sawamura Award, equivalent to the Cy Young.

Ohtani, the two-way two-time AL MVP, set a financial record to go along with his singular on-field performance, getting $700 million over 10 years to move from the cross-town Angels to the Dodgers.

Ohtani’s total was 64% higher than baseball’s previous record, a $426.5 million, 12-year deal for Angels outfielder Mike Trout in 2019. His $70 million average salary is 62% above the previous high of $43,333,333, shared by pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.

“It’s cool being on a team like this, and you just embrace it,” Betts says. “You don’t have to do anything else but just take care of your job, and let everyone watch.”