Following a second straight World Series win in his second year with the Los Angeles Dodgers, SP/DH Shohei Ohtani is looking to leverage his sway and keep a good friend of his on the team for next season.
As impending Dodgers free agent SS Miguel Rojas revealed, Ohtani pleaded for him to remain with the franchise in 2026. And while Rojas doesn’t feel he has much baseball left in him, he may have been successfully persuaded to return to L.A.
"I think one of the coolest things that happened in my life, so far. I hit the homer, right? And everybody's kind of like on top of me, right there in front of the dugout," Rojas said, per Chris Rose Sports.
"But then, Shohei, he's hitting next, right? He popped it up to left, to make it two outs in the inning.
“Came back to the dugout, and I'm by the back rack, like laying my helmet, and Shohei came to me and he say, Miggy, you can't retire next year.
“You're playing with me for 10 more years. And I got a picture of him kind of like holding me, and telling me that I can't retire next year, that I have to play 10 more years. And I say, Shohei, I'm old, and I don't know if I can play for 10 more years, but I'll play with you next year, for sure.”
Rojas also revealed that Ohtani took rapper Drake’s social media trolling following Game 5 to heart, fueling a strong performance from the plate in Game 6 and the clincher. That’s a lot of information to reveal about someone you don’t plan on playing with next year.
Or, for the more cynical, an airing out of dirty laundry on the way out, potentially. With the New York Yankees and New York Mets both needing shortstop depth, one last decent payday is potentially out there for Rojas if he seeks it.
Why not seek a three-peat with the team you’ve won it all with in two of your three years during your second stint? Rojas left before and found his way back. Might as well leave no stone unturned and run it back one last time on a historically great franchise.