Following Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Angels sensation Shohei Ohtani made a comment that has everybody in the world of baseball speculating about his future with the team.
“I like the fans,” Ohtani said in Japanese. “I like the atmosphere in the organization. But my feelings to wanting to win are stronger.”
On Tuesday, a column written by Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times speculated that Ohtani, who is the favorite to win the American League Most Valuable Player award, wants out of L.A. and that it is up to the Angels to change his mind.
Prior to Tuesday’s game, Angels manager Joe Maddon spoke to reporters and he made it very clear that Ohtani’s comments do not mean he wants to leave the team.
From ESPN:
“We all feel the same way — we all want to win,” Maddon said before the Angels’ game at Texas on Tuesday night. “If anybody misconstrues that as though he wants to leave, that’s trying to connect some dots that weren’t necessarily what he, not at all what he said.
“He also mentioned how much he loves it here. The inner sanctum of the clubhouse, the guys, the coaching staff, everything about it. The area. The fans. He loves them all. We all want to get to the next level, and we see it as an absolute possibility it’s going to happen here in the very near future.”
Nation, could the Angels, who have had a losing record in six consecutive seasons be in jeopardy of losing arguably the best player in baseball?
