We should have known all along that Shohei Ohtani was never coming to New York.
Amid the ongoing Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes (which is expected to reach a conclusion in the coming days), Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported that a "clubhouse source" said Ohtani, "specifically said he couldn't see himself playing in New York."
While this might be news to some — including, perhaps, people within the Yankees and Mets organizations — Ohtani has actually held this sentiment toward for Big Apple for years. Ohtani's New York aversion, as Heyman also noted in his report, "is also what he told the Yankees six years ago before signing with the Angels."
Although Heyman also made clear that Ohtani's team hasn't expressed this sentiment to the Yankees or Mets directly this offseason, the fact that both New York teams have since shifted their attention to signing other Japanese superstar Yoshinobu Yamamoto (in addition to trading for Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo, in the Yankees' case) instead of going all-in on pursuing Ohtani seems to confirm the report.
In fact, Heyman's report specified Ohtani's preferred destinations even further. In his New York Post story, Heyman writes that, "a clubhouse source told The Post Ohtani told him during the season that he liked the idea of going to at least the Dodgers or Jays if he left the Angels."
Since we know that the Dodgers and Blue Jays (and the San Francisco Giants) have been confirmed as finalists to sign Ohtani at this point, this "clubhouse source" clearly knows what he's talking about.
Yet, the Dodgers might have also doomed themselves in acquiring Ohtani, after their manager Dave Roberts let it slip that Los Angeles did indeed meet with Ohtani this week — which went against the Ohtani team's wishes that all information regarding free agency meetings and updates should remain mum; and that if anyone did spill the beans, so to speak, it wouldn't be looked upon kindly.
While we don't know whether Roberts comments have truly hurt his team's chances in signing Ohtani, him doing so won't effect either of the New York teams, since they now seem all but out of the Ohtani sweepstakes.
Luckily, Yankees fans can't be too upset about missing out on Ohtani, since they've now brought Soto and Verdugo on board, and are still intent on signing Yamamoto.
As for Mets fans... well, at least Yamamoto is still on the table.
