After spending six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, Shohei Ohtani has decided to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the baseball community.

Based on a video that Ohtani shot in 2017, the Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant appears to have had a significant influence on Ohtani’s choice to sign with the Dodgers before he ever joined the MLB.

“In 2017, Bryant recorded the video as a courtesy to the team,” Alden Gonzalez and Jeff Passan of ESPN wrote. “Now, over three years after his passing in a helicopter , Bryant is regarded as the greatest competitor across all sports, and his posthumous message to Ohtani in 2023 will be the same as it was in the past: Los Angeles is the best place in the world to win, and the Dodgers are the best baseball team to win with.”

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The 29-year-old Japanese celebrity was obviously deeply affected by the video.

Through Ippei Mizuhara, his interpreter, Ohtani told ESPN, “That was one of the highlights of the whole meeting.” “Seeing that absolutely caught me off guard. It was a powerful and heartfelt message.

When Bryant mentioned Ohtani’s nаme in the video, it was apparently to him. Ohtani “marveled at his commitment, to his craft, to his sport, to his team,” even though he had never met Bryant. Maybe the three-time All-Star will be able to make the same kind of influence on children who are currently growing up all around the world.

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Ohtani, a two-time MVP, is currently perhaps the biggest and finest player in baseball. The $680 million portion of the enormous $700 million contract he inked with the Dodgers will not be paid until later in this century.

Despite having advanced to the postseason eleven times in a row, the Dodgers have only won one World Series. Ohtani, a two-way player, is undoubtedly enthusiastic about his new start with a team that knows what it takes to go to the postseason because the Angels failed to make the playoffs once he was on the squad.

It’s unfortunate that Bryant, who departed from this life in January 2020, won’t be able to witness Ohtani’s breakout season with the Dodgers and beyond.

The former Rookie of the Year will undoubtedly be thinking of the Lakers icon when he makes his Dodgers home debut.

Maybe Ohtani will now frequently attend Lakers games at Crypto.com Arena and will even be present on February 8 when a statue of Bryant is unveiled.