MLB’s top 2024 storylines include Ohtani, Yamamoto and MLBPA drama
NEW YORK — The 2024 MLB season promises plenty of drama, on and off the diamond.
Shohei Ohtani’s twistfilled interpreter scandal, the MLB Players Association’s intense internal feud and a muchhyped heavyweight fight for the National League crown represent only a few of the topics dominating discussions before baseball season gets into full swing.
As the Yankees and Mets attempt to rebound from last year’s disappointments, the other 28 MLB teams will be navigating their own 162-game grinds — and it all starts Thursday.
Here are some of the top 2024 storylines happening outside of New York:
Shohei scandal — Ohtani’s Dodgers career got off to a less-thanideal start, with the hitting-and-pitching superstar accusing his nowfired interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, of stealing money from his account to pay off a gambling debt.
Mizuhara claimed to ESPN last week that Ohtani agreed to pay off the debt, reported to be at least $4.5 million. Before that interview was published, Ohtani’s lawyers claimed the athlete was the victim of “massive theft” — an allegation Ohtani furthered Monday in his first public comments about the scandal.
“I never bet on baseball or any other sports or never have asked somebody to do it on my behalf,” Ohtani said. “I never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports.”
Ohtani, a two-time American League MVP with the Angels, joined the Dodgers in December on a 10-year, $700 million contract featuring heavily deferred money. He went 3 for 10 with two RBIs in last week’s season-opening two-game series in Seoul, which the Dodgers split with the Padres.
Yamamoto mania — Also adding intrigue to a pivotal Dodgers season is the arrival of Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, whom they signed to a 12-year, $325 million to win a sweepstakes also involving the deep-pocketed Yankees and Mets.
The total value of the 25-year-old Yamamoto’s deal is the most ever for an MLB pitcher, exceeding the contract Gerrit Cole signed with the Yankees four years ago by $1 million.
Yamamoto struggled throughout spring training and was even worse in his MLB debut, surrendering five runs in only one inning during a loss to the Padres in Seoul.
NL slugfest — The Dodgers’ offseason spending spree — which also included trading for and extending pitcher Tyler Glasnow — bolstered last year’s 100-win team, yet they still face considerable competition at the top of the NL.
That’s because the Braves, fresh off a 104-win campaign, bring back the same All-Star core, plus a big-name reclamation project in the oft-injured Chris Sale, who looked like his old strikeout-machine self during an encouraging spring.
The Phillies, meanwhile, hope to finally finish off a playoff run after trips to the World Series and NLCS the last two years. A healthy season from Bryce Harper — now a full-time first baseman and 16 months removed from elbow surgery — would help.
Union unrest — Hanging over opening day is an unresolved spat within the MLBPA in which some members want to remove deputy director Bruce Meyer after a slow-moving free agency that ended with multiple stars taking short-term deals.
Some supported Harry Marino, a 33-year-old lawyer who helped organize the minor league players’ unionization, though the union’s executive subcommittee has since seemed to reject him.
“We still have issues to discuss, but one thing clear among the MLB executive subcommittee members is that this is no longer a Harry Marino discussion, in any respect,” MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said in a recent statement.
Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger and Matt
Chapman each took short deals with opt-outs after spring training began, while Jordan Montgomery remains unsigned. All four are represented by agent Scott Boras, who ripped Marino’s union push as a “coup d’etat.”
Rangers repeat? — Making Montgomery’s prolonged unemployment particularly puzzling is the left-hander played a starring role on the Rangers’ first-ever World Series title team last fall.
The Rangers, who made their championship run as a 90-win wild-card team, did little to retool their pitching staff this offseason, signing reliever David Robertson and starter Michael Lorenzen to one-year deals but losing Aroldis Chapman and possibly Montgomery.