Historic Shohei Ohtani Contract Gives Dodgers Greatest Trio of Offensive Stars Ever

It’s clear Shohei Ohtani doesn’t mind sharing the spotlight.

When the two-way superstar first made his way stateside from the Japanese League in 2018, it was to share the stage with Los Angeles Angels superstar Mike Trout, who was the consensus best player in the world at that point in time.

In six seasons with the Angels, Ohtani took up the mantle of best player on the planet with his uniquely all-encompassing contributions, winning AL MVP in 2021 and 2023 before hitting the open market as the most hyped free agent in baseball history.

The saga that was his free agency wound to a close on Saturday when he signed a record-shattering 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers where he will be the marquee name on one of the most superstar-laden clubs the game has ever seen.

The term “Big Three” is more synonymous with basketball, but the addition of Ohtani has given the Dodgers an offensive trio with a chance to shine even brighter than LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh when they first teamed up on the Miami Heat.

The Los Angeles Dodgers Incumbent Talent

This is the image of the MLB offseason.

Heading into the 2020 season, the Dodgers had won seven straight NL West division titles and made a pair of trips to the World Series, but even on the heels of a then-franchise record 106 wins it still looked like a major move was needed to finally push them over the top.

That move came on Feb. 20, 2020, when Mookie Betts was acquired from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs and Connor Wong, and in his first year with the Dodgers he finished runner-up in NL MVP voting and the team won a World Series title during the pandemic-shortened campaign.

For a lot of teams, the 12-year, $365 million extension that Betts signed after he was acquired would have been prohibitive in future spending, but that’s not how the Dodgers operate. With one of the biggest budgets in the sport and a willingness to wade into the deep waters on the other side of the luxury tax threshold, it was just the start.

Prior to the 2022 season, the Dodgers reeled in the man who a few years earlier had won 2020 NL MVP honors over Betts, signing first baseman Freddie Freeman to a six-year, $162 million contract following a terrific 12-year run with the Atlanta Braves.

Those two finished second and third in NL MVP voting this past season and were unquestionably two of the best players in the sport in 2023.

With all due respect to Corey Seager and Marcus Semien in Texas, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson in Atlanta, the rising tandem of Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson in Baltimore and various other duos across baseball, Betts and Freeman were baseball’s best tandem in 2023.

Now it’s a potentially all-time great trio with Ohtani adding baseball’s biggest star to the mix.

Other Great Offensive Trios in MLB History

It will be years before we truly know where Ohtani-Betts-Freeman ranks among the all-time greatest trios in baseball history, but for now we at least lay the foundation of who they will be chasing for the No. 1 spot on that list.

Here are some other legendary trios to consider, with an assist from Michael Clair of MLB.com:

It’s easy to pencil in fellow Hall of Famers Tony Lazzeri or Earle Combs alongside Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig to call it an all-time great trio, but that is really more of an all-time great duo with a solid third player alongside them.

The core of the “Big Red Machine” could be the trio to beat in this conversation as they helped capture World Series titles in 1975 and 1976 en route to Hall of Fame careers spent largely in a Cincinnati Reds uniform. Eclipsing those two rings might be enough to tip the scales in the Dodgers trio’s favor.

More recently, Cleveland boasted one of the most vaunted offenses in history during the 1990s, and the power-hitting trio of Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome were three of baseball’s most feared sluggers at their peak as teammates. although they never were able to get over the hump and win a World Series title.

There are cases to be made for several of the trios listed above as the best ever, and this is the group the Los Angeles Dodgers group will be trying to overtake in the coming years.

Why This Trio Can Be the Best Ever

The numbers are difficult to ignore.

Here is a look at the 2023 leaderboard for OPS+, a stat that is widely regarded as the best measure of a player’s overall offensive contributions. Park factors and league averages are taken into account to formulate one metric where 100 is the league average.

That is three of baseball’s six best qualified hitters all now playing alongside one another in the same lineup, and they are all still in the prime of their respective careers.

The Dodgers ranked among the MLB leaders in OPS (.795, second), home runs (249, second) and runs per game (5.59, second), trailing only the Atlanta Braves in all three of those categories.

Now that they have added Ohtani to the roster, the projected Opening Day lineup is formidable:

With Betts (.408 OBP, sixth in MLB), Ohtani (.412 OBP, second in MLB) and Freeman (.410 OBP, fifth in MLB) ranking among the best in the business at getting on base, it’s not hard to envision plenty of games where the Dodgers put a run on the board before the opposing team records an out. And regardless of who hits No. 3 in the lineup they will almost certainly be in for a career year from a run production standpoint.

Good health will be the key to this Dodgers trio making their case as the greatest ever, and winning will also be part of securing that legacy as spending $700 million on Ohtani and failing to win a title over the next decade would be difficult to frame as anything other than a disappointment.

However, they have the talent, track record of production and upside to end their time together as the greatest trio of offensive teammates to ever share the field if everything unfolds as hoped.

Here are some fun 2024 productions courtesy of the Depth Charts model from FanGraphs:

Three MVP contenders in the same lineup setting the tone for a potential World Series favorite.