Yoshinobu Yamamoto would have joined the Mets or Yankees if not for the Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani’s recruiting efforts.

Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto in mystery uniform

Yoshinobu Yamamoto is starting to prove why he’s a star in the making for the Los Angeles Dodgers. After allowing five runs in a single inning to start his MLB career, the 25-year-old phenom has allowed just seven across his next 33.0 innings. One of the offseason’s biggest signings has been mostly as good as advertised after a key tweak in his mechanics.

Yamamoto followed Shohei Ohtani, his teammate on the 2023 World Baseball Classic-winning squad, to the Dodgers, adding even more hype to a team with World Series expectations. It was an understandable decision, especially with LA’s 12-year, $325 million contract that contains the most guaranteed total money for a pitcher’s contract ever.

According to Bob Nightengale, Yamamoto would have signed with a team in the other major MLB market if not for Ohtani signing with and recruiting him to Los Angeles.

“Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto would have signed with the New York Yankees or Mets, persons familiar with his thinking say, if Shohei Ohtani had not signed with the Dodgers and helped recruit him,” writes Nightengale.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto would have signed with Yankees, Mets if not for Dodgers

It would have been fascinating to see Yamamoto fortify one of the New York teams. Everyone knew the Dodgers were going to be a force after landing Ohtani in free agency and Tyler Glasnow via trade, so adding even more firepower with Yamamoto just made the rich richer.

But what if Yamamoto had gone a different way? Both the Mets and Yankees (among many other teams) heavily pursued him in the hopes of fortifying their pitching with a potentially generational star. The Dodgers ultimately had a pitch too unique and appealing for him to pass up but both Big Apple teams had plenty of positives going for them.

Yamamoto signing with the Mets would have paired him up with a different Japanese star, Kodai Senga. He was named an All-Star and the runner-up for the National League Rookie of the Year honor after a great first season in MLB. The Mets’ pitching has been very solid to start the 2024 season despite Senga still recovering from a shoulder injury. But a lot of their production has come from veterans. Yamamoto would have given them a young potential ace for the near future.

The other New York team has enjoyed spectacular pitching to start 2024 despite an injury to their top arm, too. As Gerrit Cole recovers from an elbow issue, each starter has posted an ERA below four through at least their first six starts. 25-year-old Luis Gil has been impressive but doesn’t have the pedigree that Yamamoto does. A 1-2 punch of Cole (once he gets healthy) and Yamamoto could have easily been the best in all of MLB.

In the end, both squads appear to be in good shape with their pitching. They’ll each see the Dodgers this season — more so for the Mets, an NL rival — and look to hand baseball’s newest superteam an L. Yamamoto, meanwhile, will help steer the LA starship to extreme heights.