Baseball fans who grew up during the so-called "Evil Empire" days of the New York Yankees under George Steinbrenner could surely never envision a time

Had Sasaki, 23, made a different decision and gone with the Yankees instead of the Dodgers, Cedeno — and some of the other top Yankee signees — likely would have ended up elsewhere, since Sasaki would have taken up most of their $6.2 million pool.

The race to sign Rōki Sasaki appears to be down to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays. Per MLB insider Francys Romero, the San Diego Padres are

Japanese ace Roki Sasaki has whittled his list of teams down to two. On Friday, Cuban baseball reporter Francys Romero reported that the San Diego Padres are “out” on the 23-year-old right-hander. That leaves the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays.

The 26-year-old slugger is coming off a career year with the New York Yankees, having also helped ... including Japanese pitcher Rōki Sasaki and slugging first baseman Pete Alonso.

The mighty Dodgers, that Evil Empire on the West Coast, have struck again, signing Japanese phenom Rōki Sasaki.

The prized righty pitcher was one of the most sought-after international free agents in recent memory and picked the Dodgers over a considerable list of other suitors.

The splitter is on the rise in Major League Baseball, and the Dodgers are cornering the market. Splitters were thrown more often in 2024 than in any other season of the pitch tracking era, which goes back to 2008.

MLB teams have coveted Roki Sasaki since he broke Shohei Ohtani's Japanese high school record by reaching 101 mph with his fastball as a 17-year-old in 2019, part of a 194-pitch, 12-inning, 21-strikeout complete game in the national summer Koshien tournament.

The Dodgers are the favorites to win the World Series once again in 2025. There's no team with even close to the amount of talent the Dodgers currently have. The Dodgers have added a lot of talent to an already star-studded organization, but everyone from the 2024 roster won't return.

Just Baseball's Ryan Finkelstein made a list of the top 15 free agents still available with predicted contracts and landing spots. For Flaherty, Finkelstein predicted that the 29-year-old will stay in the National League West, but with the San Francisco Giants.

No one likes waiting for the phone to ring. World Series Champions are no exception. Jack Flaherty — 29-years-old and coming off a season in which he pitched to a 13-7 record and a 3.17 ERA —