Shohei Ohtani next MLB team odds: AL MVP favorite, Cy Young contender could be playing final Opening Day with Angels; Dodgers favored as 2024 club

Whenever Shohei Ohtani takes the mound for the Los Angeles Angels – while also hitting – it's usually the biggest story of the night in Major League Baseball. The 2021 AL MVP will be on the mound Thursday as the Angels open their season in Oakland against the A's. With Ohtani set for free agency after this season, could it be his final Opening Day for the Halos? SportsLine offers odds on his 2024 Opening Day team.

The last time we saw Ohtani, he struck out his Angels teammate Mike Trout in the bottom of the ninth of the World Baseball Classic title game to get the save in Japan's 3-2 victory over Team USA. The game drew record ratings in both the USA and Japan. Ohtani had a 1.86 ERA in 9.2 WBC innings and also hit .435 with a homer and eight RBI en route to being named the tournament's MVP, cementing his status as one of the biggest superstars in sports.

At Caesars Sportsbook, Ohtani is the +200 favorite over Judge (+400) to win a second AL MVP and +1200 to win the Cy Young. It will always be a bit tougher for Ohtani to win the Cy Young because he generally only pitches every sixth day instead of the usual every fifth day for a normal starting pitcher. The Angels don't want to wear Ohtani out with him in the lineup every day as DH.

Last season, the 28-year-old hit .273 with 34 homers and 95 RBI while going 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA and 219 strikeouts in 166 innings on the mound. Ohtani agreed to a one-year, $30 million contract extension in October as part of an agreement to avoid salary arbitration. He will make an MLB-best $65 million this year including endorsements according to an annual list published Monday by Forbes.

It's quite likely that Ohtani gets the first $500 million contract in major American pro sports this winter as a free agent. One sportsbook gives an over/under of $499.5 million as his next contract with the Over at -140. ESPN's Buster Olney said this week that the feeling around MLB is that "many believe" Ohtani will end up with the Dodgers on a deal that could be worth at least $600 million.

Could Ohtani stay with the Angels? It probably depends on whether they make the playoffs, as he has said that winning was his No. 1 priority, and the Angels haven't even finished with a winning record since 2015 or made the playoffs since 2014 – the only time Trout made it. The Angels are set at over/under 83 wins this year. They're +120 to make the playoffs with No at -150.

It is also believed that Ohtani wants to stay on West Coast in part because it's a shorter flight to Japan, and the media isn't as rabid and he enjoys his privacy. When Ohtani was in the process of choosing his MLB team in 2017, he narrowed the field to seven teams with the Cubs being the only one not in the AL or NL West.

The Dodgers can afford Ohtani and there would be no question about their World Series contention for the rest of his career. The Giants chased Judge this past winter but lost out and badly need a gate attraction. Would Ohtani follow in Ichiro Suzuki's footsteps to Seattle? One can never rule out the Mets because money doesn't matter to the league's richest owner, Steve Cohen.

As for tonight in Oakland, DraftKings gives Ohtani O/U totals of 3.5 hits allowed, 6.5 strikeouts, 1.5 walks and 0.5 earned runs. At the plate, he's +450 to go yard and has never faced A's starter Kyle Muller.

Via SportsLine oddsmakers: Which team will Shohei Ohtani be playing for Opening Day in 2024?

• Dodgers +300
• Giants +400
• Angels +500
• Mariners +600
• Mets +700
• Padres +800
• Yankees +1000
• Cubs +1100
• Cardinals +1200
• Blue Jays +1500
• Rangers +2000

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