<p>Slowly but surely, we&#8217;re getting to the finish line of the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/2023/12/04/report-free-agent-shohei-ohtani-not-expected-to-sign-before-winter-meetings-conclude/">While the word is that he might not sign until later in December</a>, the two-way superstar has started to have meetings with teams. There were <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/giants/article/giants-best-no-ohtani-option-trading-18530712.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;rumblings&#8221;</a> that Ohtani met with top San Francisco Giants officials at Oracle Park on Saturday and <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/toronto-blue-jays-shohei-ohtani-reportedly-meet-at-clubs-training-complex-in-dunedin">Ken Rosenthal reported</a> that he was at the Toronto Blue Jays&#8217; complex in Dunedin on Monday.</p>
<p>Next up, it seems, will be the Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels. USA Today&#8217;s Bob Nightengale reported on Tuesday afternoon that the Chicago Cubs feel less optimistic about their pursuit of Ohtani, leaving the Blue Jays, Giants, Dodgers, and Angels as the four finalists.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Chicago Cubs’ optimism of landing Shohei Ohtani has now significantly waned, one high-ranking executive said, leaving the LA Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Angels and San Francisco Giants as the likely finalists.</p>
<p>&mdash; Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) <a href="https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/1732093251501318571?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>None of these four teams being &#8220;finalists&#8221; comes as a surprise. There&#8217;s been talk about the Blue Jays and Giants making a pitch to Ohtani for weeks, the Dodgers have always been viewed as the likely destination because of their location and success, while the Angels are the team he&#8217;s spent his entire MLB career with.</p>
<p>The interesting thing is the handful of other teams who have seemingly fallen off when it comes to Ohtani. The Cubs, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, and Boston Red Sox were all rumoured to be teams interested in making a big push for Ohtani or as landing spots that would be favourable to the two-time Most Valuable Player.</p>
<p>Just about everything that&#8217;s been talked about thus far has been almost entirely speculation and now that Ohtani has landed in North America and is meeting with teams, we&#8217;re starting to get an idea of who&#8217;s actually in the mix. Of course, given Ohtani&#8217;s secrecy, it&#8217;s entirely possible he&#8217;s planning to meet with the Rangers, Red Sox, Mariners, and Cubs, and the four listed by Nightengale are just a handful of teams who are involved rather than exclusive finalists.</p>
<p>Regardless, the fact that the Blue Jays have come this far is a positive thing. They&#8217;re definitely one of the teams being seriously considered. You don&#8217;t just fly all the way to Central Florida for nothing.</p>
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<h2 class="mb-5 text-2xl font-bold" style="text-align: center;"><a class="text-accent" href="https://gml-grp.com/C.ashx?btag=a_24038b_2065c_&amp;affid=7966&amp;siteid=24038&amp;adid=2065&amp;c=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ARTICLE PRESENTED BY BETANO</a></h2>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-61491" src="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/04/Betano_ON_Base_727x404-1.png" alt="" width="727" height="404" srcset="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/04/Betano_ON_Base_727x404-1.png 727w, https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/04/Betano_ON_Base_727x404-1-300x167.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 727px) 100vw, 727px" /></p>

Slowly but surely, we're getting to the finish line of the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes.



<a href="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/2023/12/04/report-free-agent-shohei-ohtani-not-expected-to-sign-before-winter-meetings-conclude/">While the word is that he might not sign until later in December</a>, the two-way superstar has started to have meetings with teams. There were <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/giants/article/giants-best-no-ohtani-option-trading-18530712.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"rumblings"</a> that Ohtani met with top San Francisco Giants officials at Oracle Park on Saturday and <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/toronto-blue-jays-shohei-ohtani-reportedly-meet-at-clubs-training-complex-in-dunedin">Ken Rosenthal reported</a> that he was at the Toronto Blue Jays' complex in Dunedin on Monday.

Next up, it seems, will be the Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels. USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported on Tuesday afternoon that the Chicago Cubs feel less optimistic about their pursuit of Ohtani, leaving the Blue Jays, Giants, Dodgers, and Angels as the four finalists.

https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/1732093251501318571

None of these four teams being "finalists" comes as a surprise. There's been talk about the Blue Jays and Giants making a pitch to Ohtani for weeks, the Dodgers have always been viewed as the likely destination because of their location and success, while the Angels are the team he's spent his entire MLB career with.

The interesting thing is the handful of other teams who have seemingly fallen off when it comes to Ohtani. The Cubs, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, and Boston Red Sox were all rumoured to be teams interested in making a big push for Ohtani or as landing spots that would be favourable to the two-time Most Valuable Player.

Just about everything that's been talked about thus far has been almost entirely speculation and now that Ohtani has landed in North America and is meeting with teams, we're starting to get an idea of who's actually in the mix. Of course, given Ohtani's secrecy, it's entirely possible he's planning to meet with the Rangers, Red Sox, Mariners, and Cubs, and the four listed by Nightengale are just a handful of teams who are involved rather than exclusive finalists.

Regardless, the fact that the Blue Jays have come this far is a positive thing. They're definitely one of the teams being seriously considered. You don't just fly all the way to Central Florida for nothing.

&nbsp;

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<h2 class="mb-5 text-2xl font-bold" style="text-align: center;"><a class="text-accent" href="https://gml-grp.com/C.ashx?btag=a_24038b_2065c_&amp;affid=7966&amp;siteid=24038&amp;adid=2065&amp;c=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ARTICLE PRESENTED BY BETANO</a></h2>
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