Angels News: Majority of Fans Don’t Expect Shohei Ohtani to Be With Halos Next Season
Angels two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani is entering his final year of team control this year. He already dodged questions at spring training about his future, saying he only wants to focus on this season with the Angels.
Many insiders have already written the Angels off as a potential landing spot for Ohtani long-term, however, that isn't going to stop them from doing everything they can to convince him to stay.
Angels fans, for better or for worse, don't have a lot of confidence, though. Over at The Athletic, Angels insider Sam Blum ran a survey that got nearly 2,000 responses from fans. He asked 20 questions that give great insight across the board on the state of the Angels franchise, and I highly recommend you check it out. You can read the whole thing here.
However, for the purpose of this article, I want to hone in on one question he asked regarding Ohtani's future.
Blum asked a simple question: "What is the most likely outcome for Shohei Ohtani’s future with the Angels?"
The responses were pretty eye-opneing.
A whopping 47.6 percent of Angels fans think he's going to leave in free agency, while another 17.5 percent of fans think he's going to be traded before the deadline. That means over 65 percent of Angels fans don't expect Ohtani to be in an Angel uniform past this season.
The other 34.9 percent of fans think he's going to sign an extension, either during the season or after.
While no one knows what Ohtani is going to do, what he's said, and maybe more importantly what he hasn't said, definitely leaves people to believe he'll likely want out after this season.
Money doesn't seem to be an issue for him, although he's going to get a record contract no matter what. But he wants to win, and he wants to contend for World Series titles — and if the Angels can't offer him that, he'll likely be suiting up somewhere else in 2023.
