Report: Giants not believed to be among three Ohtani finalists

Report: Giants not believed to be among three Ohtani finalists originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Shohei Ohtani officially has made his decision on where he will play in 2024 and beyond.

The two-time AL MVP and superstar free agent agreed to a historic 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday, ending months of speculation over where the two-way phenom will continue his MLB career.

The Giants were one of the teams heavily pursuing Ohtani this offseason and by all indications were one of the final handful of teams in the running for his services.

However, the New York Post's Jon Heyman joined MLB Network's "MLB Tonight" after the Ohtani news broke and provided some insight on where the Giants might have landed in the Ohtani Sweepstakes.

"I'll tell you what I know, but obviously nobody's going to know a lot because this was shrouded in secrecy," Heyman shared. "As of late last night, my understanding is the Dodgers did not know they were getting him so it was either very late last night or this morning where it came together where the Dodgers became the team that they understand they were getting Shohei Ohtani.

"And my other understanding is that there were three finalists: the Angels, the Blue Jays and the Dodgers. Certainly, the Blue Jays were clearly in the running and the Angels were as well. And the Giants and the Cubs I guess you can call them 'finalists.' There were five teams."

As Heyman mentioned, the Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Angels -- not the Giants -- were the final three teams Ohtani was deciding between before ultimately choosing to don the Dodger blue.

It remains to be seen when San Francisco and the Chicago Cubs officially were out of the running for Ohtani, but it appears they did not advance to the final rose ceremony.

Given the Giants have finished second for a handful of superstar players over the years, resulting in heartbreak for a star-hungry fan base, maybe finishing fourth or fifth might sting a little less for fans of the orange and black. Or not. Probably not, actually.

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