Reports: 4 Teams Told They Are OUT of the Sasaki Sweepstakes

January 13, 2025 , , , , , , ,


And so the field begins to be whittled down. The sweepstakes to land the 23-year-old Japanese pitching phenom Roki Sasaki is coming down to the wire, and teams are starting to be given the bad news that they will not be Sasaki's destination.

Both New York teams, the Mets and the Yankees, in addition to the San Francisco Giants have been eliminated from the competition, and the most recent report also indicates that the Chicago Cubs are also out. That still leaves the overwhelming favorites, the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers alive. 

And today we got another new, surprising, entrant to the lottery, the Toronto Blue Jays, who have shockingly made it to the final three. 

Are Toronto fans ready for more heartbreak? They were runners-up in the Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto sweepstakes as well over the past two winters. 

Is it possible that Sasaki is also realizing that the Jays are the perfect dark horse to help drive up the price on their true target? 

Those remaining are slashed considerably from the 20 teams that submitted presentations originally after Sasaki was posted by his NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) team, the Chiba Lotte Marines, on Dec. 9th. The posting window closes on Jan. 23rd. 

Sasaki has posted a lifetime 2.02 ERA with an 0.88 WHIP in Japan with 524 strikeouts and 91 walks in 414 2/3 innings for 11.4 K/9.

Photo credit: Scinsvche, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons



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