This is a relief for Angels fans everywhere.
The offseason of Shohei Ohtani is upon us, and rumors are slowly starting to trickle in. While Ohtani wants to keep things relatively private, we know some of the teams that will make an aggressive push for the two-way star, and others who won’t.
On Friday, we got a huge update on one team — the AL West rival Seattle Mariners.
And according to Daniel Kramer of MLB.com, the Mariners may actually be out of the race for Ohtani
While it’s going to hurt the Angels no matter where Ohtani ends up — assuming he leaves the Halos — it would be significantly worse if he landed back in the AL West.
The Mariners and Texas Rangers were reportedly going to be among the most aggressive teams, and many believed Ohtani may have wanted to go to Seattle.
However, it seems that the Mariners are taking themselves out of the race, meaning there’s a much better chance he doesn’t remain in the AL West.
The Rangers are still expected to be aggressive, but at least the Angels don’t have to worry about one division rival. And it’s hard to imagine the Oakland/Las Vegas Athletics reeling in Ohtani, so that just leaves the Houston Astros, who haven’t been linked to him to this point.
The Rangers remain a real candidate for Ohtani, but the Angels suddenly have a much better chance of not having their two-way superstar remain in the division.
