As was absolutely anticipated, within minutes of Monday’s official announcement that 29-year-old two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani had agreed to a 10-year / $700 million free agent contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, orders for his official Dodgers Nike jerseys from Fanatics went through the roof.

Just how far through the roof, you ask?

Far enough to set a new all-time record for sales within a 48-hour period.

Jersey sales of the Oshu, Japan native, who was initially signed by the Angels of Anaheim on December 9, 2017 and made his MLB debut with them on March 29, 2018 at the age of 23, surpassed the previous records held by Major League Soccer superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as those of NFL quarterback Justin Fields and Philadelphia Phillies future Hall of Fame outfielder Bryce Harper.

Because of the overwhelming – yet anticipated – number of orders for Ohtani jerseys received by Fanatics, as of this writing they already have an estimated delivery date of the first week of March 2024.

That’s the bad news.

The worse news is that although the jerseys were available at the Dodger Stadium Top of the Park team store on Wednesday, a store employee told an LA Times reporter that they were selling very fast.

Now for the worser news.

According to that team store employee, another shipment of the new record-setting jerseys isn’t expected before Christmas … hence that Fanatics thing.

As they say (whoever they are):

“If you snooze, you lose.”

Play Ball!

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