LOS ANGELES — Yankees outfielder Juan Soto is celebrating his 26th birthday Friday, also Game 1 of the World Series in Dodger Stadium between his New York team and the Dodgers. He’ll need to wait just a bit for his biggest gift—perhaps the largest contract in MLB history, at least in present-day value. 

As the star-studded Fall Classic begins, rife with expectations and implications, one of the largest issues surrounding the event is Soto’s future status. Acquired by the Yankees last offseason in a trade with the Padres, Soto will be a free agent after the World Series. Soto’s offseason saga had already been a major topic throughout the season, particularly as he is widely projected to garner a contract of at least $500 million. 

His postseason heroics, particularly in the American League Championship Series, have further elevated that salary chatter to $600 million, and perhaps beyond, fueled in part by his teammates. 

There is another key element, however, to the Soto contract discussion: what, if any, deferrals will be included in the deal. Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is deferring $680 million of his 10-year, $700 million contract until after he finishes that deal—an unprecedented situation that has rankled California legislators due to the income tax implications, but it also allowed Los Angeles to have a value of $46.1 million annually for MLB luxury-tax purposes. 

Soto’s youth, even with this latest birthday, and immense skill could help him far surpass all prior MLB records in average annual value for his contract, and perhaps even Ohtani for present-day contract value. Soto’s current on-field trajectory currently has him roughly on par with current Baseball Hall of Famers such as Frank Robinson or players who will be, like Mike Trout. A 15-year contract would take Soto until he is 41, and it’s certainly plausible to conceive of him still playing then. Ohtani, conversely, was 29 when he signed his Dodgers deal and he has since turned 30. His decade-long contract term is more in line with his likely longevity. 

On His Mind 

Responding Thursday to a Front Office Sports question, Soto said he has been letting agent Scott Boras handle the contract matters for now, and that Boras “has been doing a really good job to not make it hard for me.”

That’s been little comfort, though, for anxious Yankees fans thrilled with both Soto’s on-field performance and buoyant personality, but nervous that his time in pinstripes could soon be over.

“I’m really thankful to them,” Soto said of the Yankees faithful. “They’ve been with me day in and day out. They’ve been supportive of me since Day 1. The only thing I can say is that I’ve been really happy they’ve had my back the whole year. Thank you for everything.”

Soto’s current career crossroads very much recalls the 2022 MLB All-Star Game, also at Dodger Stadium. Then with the Nationals, Soto turned down a 15-year, $440 million offer to stay in Washington—which would have been MLB’s largest deal at that point—and faced a barrage of questions about his future. Days later, he was dealt to San Diego. 

“I remember that All-Star Game. That was crazy. It was hot [then], too,” Soto said.

LOS ANGELES — Such is the intensity of the Beatlemania-like fervor around Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani that even non-stories become breaking-news headlines.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts again affirmed Thursday that Ohtani will not be pitching in the World Series, starting Friday at Dodger Stadium. Ohtani has not pitched all year as he continues to recover from major elbow surgery 13 months ago, and he’s been solely a designated hitter in 2024 while becoming MLB’s first player with 50 home runs and 50 steals in a season. There has not been any serious consideration by the team of deviating from a long-established plan to wait until 2025 for Ohtani to return to pitching. 

Still, the repeated assertion by Roberts that there is “no possibility” Ohtani will pitch in the Fall Classic against the Yankees generated widespread coverage and news alerts. 

While the prospect of Ohtani on the mound in the World Series is farcical, the business impact of the phenom on this event is quite real and spectacular. Already, Ohtani has been a primary driver of major postseason viewership increases for MLB, both in the U.S. and in Japan. In each country, viewership of Game 1 on Friday (Saturday morning in Tokyo) could easily exceed 15 million. That figure, if it happens, will beat the prior MLB postseason viewership record in Japan of 12.9 million, set during the Dodgers’ National League Division Series–clinching win over the Padres.

Of the 42 countries and territories that have purchased World Series tickets on StubHub, Ohtani’s home country of Japan is tops outside of North America in terms of sales volume. Even before the World Series, Ohtani has fueled numerous other pieces of new business, including a dozen new Japanese sponsors for the Dodgers, a spike in Japanese fan tours of Dodger Stadium, and alterations in the club’s merchandise and concessions offerings. Before the playoffs, Ohtani had MLB’s top-selling player jersey and the Dodgers retained their place as the league’s leading attendance draw. 

Even in a World Series rife with other stars, including the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, and Ohtani’s own teammates, Mookie Betts and Japanese countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Ohtani is the main attraction. 

Roberts, normally far from the day-to-day crunching of television numbers, also predicted historic results in Japan, driven heavily by Ohtani.

“I think it’s a 100th percentile outcome,” Roberts said of the projected Japan ratings. “Obviously, there’s a strategy as far as the skill set of the player and then the global impact it could have on the fan-based organization. … So just to see the way [Ohtani and Yamamoto] have performed, the way they’ve assimilated with our fan base, the clubhouse, all that stuff, [it’s] been a perfect outcome. That’s part of the math with [president of baseball operations] Andrew [Friedman] and [owner] Mark Walter in getting these guys.”

Keeping It Low Key

A critical part of Ohtani’s charm and appeal has been how seemingly at ease he’s been with all the attention. Even as throngs of reporters feverishly circled around him again Thursday during a World Series workout day at Dodger Stadium—where the Beatles played their next-to-last concert date in 1966—Ohtani was his normal, affable self. 

“I have been watching the World Series every year and watching in the sense of disappointment because I couldn’t play in one,” Ohtani said through an interpreter, recalling six losing years spent previously with the crosstown Angels. “But this year, I’m able to participate in one, and I’m very much looking forward to it.”

There is a new record price for an NHL franchise sale—by quite a wide margin—after the Lightning unveiled a multistep and multiyear process for owner Jeff Vinik to give up his majority investment in the team.

Vinik Sports Group on Thursday announced a deal that will eventually see Lightning ownership transferred to a group of investors led by Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz, who are the co-CEOs of private equity firm Blue Owl Capital. The move was not unexpected, as Vinik in August announced he was starting the process of a significant franchise stake sale.

While no financial details have been released, the Lightning are valued at $1.8 billion as part of the deal, according to a previous report from Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman and multiple other outlets. That’s nearly double the record $950 million the Senators sold for in the summer of 2023.

The transaction has some caveats, though. 

Vinik will retain full control and act as the team’s governor for the next three years, mirroring an ownership sale trend seen in various forms in NBA deals (completed and ongoing) involving the Timberwolves, Mavericks, and Celtics.

Control will transfer to Ostrover and Lipschultz in three years, but Vinik will remain a minority owner and alternate governor. Arctos Partners—one of the private equity firms newly approved to invest in NFL franchises—is also selling a portion, but not all, of its stake in the Lightning.

Bolt of Energy

Life has been good as of late for the Lightning, who won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2021 and 2022. 

Vinik paid $170 million for the team in 2010, so he’s certainly making out well as part of the deal—but so are his staff members. Every full-time employee of Vinik Sports Group, about 300 in total, will share in a $20 million pool of bonuses, with the minimum payout being $50,000, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Meanwhile, this fall, Vinik has donated $3 million to relief efforts from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which both hit the Tampa Bay area.