The Dodgers are a week deep into spring training, sitting at a near-perfect 5-1-1 record following their 6-4 loss to the Rangers on Wednesday afternoon. Everything is going about as well as anyone could've hoped — Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto look great, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman look great, and Dodgers prospects and NRIs look mostly great. It's all coming up LA.
In non-spring training news, we've got a surprise marriage and a former Dodger moving across the country to a team LA very well might see in the postseason. Here's what's going on around the horn.
Shohei Ohtani is officially off the (dating) market
Two days after hitting a home run in his LA debut, Ohtani took to Instagram to drop a different kind of bomb out of nowhere (is this going to be a pattern with him?) — he's married. True to form, he kept the message succinct, writing, "Not only have I began a new chapter in my career with the Dodgers but I also have began a new life with someone from my Native country of Japan who is very special to me and I wanted everyone to know I am now married."
Well...okay! Congrats to the happy couple!
Ohtani is a notoriously private person. It was rumored/widely believed that he had a girlfriend who lived in Hawaii, but no one knows her name or what she looks like. It's sort of miraculous that he's been able to keep everything so tightly under wraps, especially with the media frenzy around him in free agency, but more power to him for that.
Kolten Wong signs a minor league with the Orioles
After being DFA'ed by the Mariners in August last year, Wong was picked up by the Dodgers, signed a minor league deal, and got called up in September. He only played in 20 regular season games (and got a few at-bats during the postseason), but was a very serviceable fill-in second baseman during that time. He batted .300/.353/.500 with two home runs and eight RBI before leaving in free agency.
The Orioles signed him to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training on Thursday night. It's unclear how they might utilize him in the majors with Jordan Westburg at second and No. 1 MLB prospect Jackson Holliday not far from making his big league debut. However, if Wong can show up in spring training, a bench spot could be in the cards for him.