MLB finally has Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani in the playoffs, and he will be very hard to miss in the league’s promotion of the postseason.

Ohtani toiled over the first six seasons of his MLB career for the lowly Angels before shifting to the crosstown Dodgers, where he made history as the league’s first player with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season. Now the phenom is a central figure of league marketing—both in the U.S. and in his native Japan. 

The league is featuring Ohtani within the latest installment of its “Baseball Is Something Else” brand campaign featuring actor Brian Tyree Henry. 

In Japan, meanwhile, MLB has implemented an out-of-home takeover across Tokyo, setting up 113 billboards around the megacity that feature each individual homer and stolen base for Ohtani during the regular season. In addition to spotlighting Ohtani’s historic season and promoting the playoffs, the Japanese effort serves as a forerunner for March, when the Dodgers and Cubs begin the 2025 MLB season with two games in Tokyo. The two-game set will be part of the ongoing MLB World Tour of international games and bring Ohtani back to his home country for regular-season games. 

By that point, Ohtani is also expected to resume pitching and again become a two-way player.

“Certainly having Ohtani on this stage is great for the game, great for the fans, and he’s having such a historic season,” MLB deputy commissioner Noah Garden tells Front Office Sports. “For everybody to be able to see him on that big [posteason] stage is good and important. … We’re using this opportunity to make sure from a global perspective that all our fans are connected to the game, and in certain areas where it makes sense to promote Ohtani front and center, we’re doing just that.”

The Dodgers, the top seed in the National League playoffs, will begin the Division Series on Saturday at home against the Padres, who eliminated the Braves with a 5-4 win Wednesday night to complete a two-game sweep in the wild-card series. Given the long malaise of the Angels, also the team of star outfielder Mike Trout, MLB had not had its unofficial “best player in the game” in the postseason at any point in the last decade—a streak now broken by Ohtani.

NASCAR is about to get a $7.7 billion cash injection from its new media-rights deals, and Michael Jordan wants a piece of the pie—or at least a bigger one.

The NBA legend’s 23XI Racing is part of an antitrust lawsuit that was filed against NASCAR on Wednesday, centered on how the sport’s revenue is distributed. 

Last month, Jordan’s team and Front Row Motorsports (the other party of the lawsuit) were the only two to not sign NASCAR’s charter agreement—the sport’s version of franchises—for 2025 to 2031, which is also the time frame of $1.1 billion annual TV contracts with Amazon, Fox Sports, NBC Sports, and Warner Bros. Discovery. “We did not have an opportunity to fairly bargain,” a 23XI statement said at the time.

The current split for the sport’s media-rights revenue is roughly:

• Tracks: 65%
• Teams: 25%
• NASCAR: 10%

The catch is that 18 of the 36 Cup Series races on the 2025 schedule will be held at NASCAR-owned tracks. That means NASCAR would effectively take in 42.5% of TV money, or an average of $467 million each year, while the teams (there are 17 full-time squads with between one and four cars) would split $275 million.

Denny Hamlin, a co-owner of 23XI Racing who still drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, has previously said teams asked for closer to 50% of that media-rights money. Tuesday’s lawsuit labeled the France family, which owns NASCAR, “monopolistic bullies.”

23XI driver Tyler Reddick won the Cup Series regular-season points championship, culminating Jordan’s most successful NASCAR season yet, after already helping bring an added spotlight to the sport. Reddick now sits ninth out of 12 in the ongoing playoffs. 

Front Row and 23XI plan to ask for a preliminary injunction that would allow them to compete in 2025 without charter agreements.

The National Hockey League’s labor deal with the NHL Players’ Association doesn’t expire for nearly two years. But talks on a new collective bargaining agreement are set to open soon, and the two sides will do so in a period of historic strength for the sport.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said following board of governors’ meetings this week in New York that talks will open toward an agreement to succeed the current one expiring in September 2026. The league and union last reached a labor deal in July 2020, while dealing with the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the NHLPA has transitioned from former executive director Donald Fehr to current leader Marty Walsh. But as the sport enjoyed record attendance and historically strong ratings last year, serious friction is likely to be minimal. 

“In terms of the relationship, we think we’re in a good place,” Bettman said. 

To that end, Bettman said the salary cap for the 2025–2026 season could jump to $92.5 million, a 5% jump from the current $88 million, though the commissioner called that projection “way, way, way, way preliminary.” A $4.5 million jump, if it happens, would equal the increase from last season to the new one starting this week. 

Issues on the Table

In addition to the core economic framework of the league, the two sides will consider a potential reduction of the preseason schedule to expand the current 82-game regular season, not unlike what the NFL is now evaluating. An NHL schedule expansion would also help facilitate more regional rivalry games. 

There isn’t a specific timetable to reach a new labor deal, beyond the obvious expiration of the current pact. But Bettman said he is loosely targeting June 2025 to reach an agreement.

“If we had it done by media availability at the Stanley Cup Final, everybody would be very happy,” Bettman said. “But that’s not a discussion, in terms of timetable, I’ve had with Marty Walsh, so I don’t want to put any unfair parameters on it. It’ll be what it’ll be, but I think based on the status of our relationship, this will be fine.”

That tone remains a massive change from three prior lockouts in Bettman’s tenure, including a dispute that wiped out the entire 2004–2005 season. 

Front Office Sports keeps you updated on the latest NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals shaping college sports. Here’s who is cashing in now:

• Athletes: Carson Beck, Tate Ratledge, Dillon Bell, Nate Frazier 
• Sport: Football
• School: Georgia
• Brand: Chipotle

The deal: Days before Saturday’s heartbreaking defeat to Alabama, several Georgia football stars partnered with Chipotle for an ad campaign called “Two-a-Days.” 

Beck, the Bulldogs quarterback who is 10th in On3’s NIL 100 list with a valuation of $1.8 million, was joined by Ratledge (offensive lineman), Bell (wide receiver), and Frazier (running back). Ratledge has an NIL valuation of $550,000, while Bell and Frazier have a valuation of more than $200,000.

Chipotle has done several NIL deals, including giving free Chipotle to all Ohio State athletes during their respective seasons.