Today, February 7th, puts us at exactly 50 days until opening day is here. Whenever Opening Day rolls around, you feel pretty excited as not only does it bring months of professional baseball, but it also gives you the feeling that summer is getting close, and we all love summer!
With a super wild offseason in Major League Baseball, we have plenty to look forward to this upcoming 2024 baseball season, there were big trades so we will get to see some guys in new uniforms, as well as some big contracts.
It would be illegal to bring up big contracts, and not talk about Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani was formerly the ace pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels, there were many speculations on which team Ohtani would play for next, and eventually would decide to stay in Los Angeles, but with the Dodgers. Ohtani signed a ten year deal with the Dodgers, for 700 million dollars. Yes this contract is absurd, but it also a testament to the leagues absence of a salary cap on teams, which I will get into later.
Also, teams expanded their rosters with the MLB draft, in which 12 players with Colorado high school baseball ties got drafted. Some of the more notable names on this list are, Eaton High Schools Walker Martin (pick 52 overall to the San Francisco Giants) who was the Gatorade Colorado Player of the Year, batting .633 and leading the entire nation in homeruns with 20.
Another one being Rock Canyons Chase Jaworsky. Chase was the second Colorado drafted player (after Walker) and he was drafted 164th overall in the fifth round by the Houston Astros.
Not only did the Dodgers add Shohei Ohtani to the bullpen, but they also signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who was playing in Japan. Yamamoto’s contract was not quite as big as Ohtani, but it was still one of the bigger contracts we have seen in league history. He signed for 12 years, 325 million dollars.
This brings up whether teams in Major League Baseball should have salary caps. The teams that bring in more revenue, are bound to always be better than teams that don’t bring as much, and because of the lack of salary cap, teams with a good fan base, or typically in big cities (Houston, LA, New York City, etc.) can spend way more money to get the best players. These 2 contracts alone are double, what the Colorado Rockies spent on renewing contracts for the upcoming season.
Now, for the predictions. I want to say the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to win the world series because games are won with pitching, which they should win it, but I also think baseball is too unpredictable and they will not bring home the hardware. I am taking the Atlanta Braves to win the world series, which would be their second in the last four years.
We are getting close baseball fans!
