The Los Angeles Dodgers spent more than a billion dollars on the two biggest free agents of the MLB offseason.
First, the Dodgers secured the services of two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani, who signed a 10-year, $700 million deal that sent shockwaves across the baseball world.
Just a few days later, Los Angeles made another huge splash, signing Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a 12-year, $325 million deal that put him alongside his countryman for the next decade of Dodgers baseball.
On Wednesday, Yamamoto’s deal was celebrated with an official announcement as the Dodgers took a move out of the Chargers’ social media playbook to welcome their new pitcher, making him the star of a brief anime-inspired video.
Welcome to Los Angeles, Yoshinobu Yamamoto!
ロサンゼルスへようこそ、山本由伸！ pic.twitter.com/nBVUYJpn9V
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) December 27, 2023
Baseball fans loved the post.
AHHHH THE HYPE VIDEO YOU GUYS COOKED
— sky (@GonsolinRBW) December 27, 2023
The production/social crew are doing some serious work these days https://t.co/f3V6xvmcZN
— Josh Thomas (@jokeylocomotive) December 27, 2023
oh this goes crazy but now i want an anime intro for the whole starting lineup https://t.co/7avrw3zLGj
— kriz • SAMURAI DODGERS (@ellezirkpdx) December 27, 2023
Another banger from @Hunter_Kondo! https://t.co/7z1LNqjbm8
— Ross Yoshida (@RYDesignLA) December 27, 2023
The Dodgers’ social team keeps going hard and I love it so. https://t.co/qlRwLZYxyX
— Russell Varner (@rvarner) December 27, 2023
The editing team deserves a raise they've only been putting out heat this offseason https://t.co/5CBb1cz3id
— jp (@jpizzler17) December 27, 2023
Yamamoto has yet to play an inning of Major League Baseball, but was dominant as a pro in Japan, sporting a 70–29 record, 1.82 ERA and 922 strikeouts across seven seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball.
