With Major League Baseball’s approval of the Japanese posting system Friday, let the Shohei Ohtani games officially begin. So, where will he end up?

TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips thinks the New York Yankees and the Seattle Mariners have the best shot to land the 23-year-old phenom.

“I think the Yankees have the edge. Don’t discount the Seattle Mariners; they’ve had a lot of success with Japanese players, but the Yankees have the money for whatever that’s worth. They have the community, the support and the potential endorsement opportunities for Ohtani. The Yankees seem to be the best fit,” Phillips said Friday on SportsCentre.

The Yankees are able to offer Ohtani a $3.5 million signing bonus, the second-highest total behind the Texas Rangers at $3.535 million. The Mariners sit at approximately $1.6 million after a Nov. 16 trade with the Chicago White Sox to acquire more international bonus pool money.

Mitchell: I would like to see Ohtani in New York

TSN 1050 Blue Jays reporter Scott Mitchell talked about the opening of the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes in baseball. Scott talks about where he feels Ohtani is the best fit and what scenarios Ohtani could be placed in.

Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto said on a podcast posted on MLB.com last week that the Mariners were “bringing their A-game” in an effort to sign Ohtani.

It looks like the Yankees are too.

“I think he’d be perfect for us. We put our best foot forward,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told reporters Friday. “It’s a big stage here and it’s meant to have the best talent to play on, and Ohtani represents the next great talent that’s available in the world of baseball.”

The two-way superstar has indicated a desire to pitch and play a position, but Phillips doesn’t think this will be a problem for MLB teams.

“Everybody has submitted a letter to him saying this is how we would use you and all 30 teams, I promise you, said we have no problem with you pitching and being a position player and hitting as well.”

His numbers support it. In five seasons with the Nippon Ham Fighters of Japan’s NPB league, he had an OPS of .859. On the mound, he posted a career ERA of 2.52 and WHIP of 1.07 in 543 innings.   

“Think about it this way: whoever gets him is getting a No. 3 hitter and an ace in the rotation in one signing. And he’s really affordable and cost effective. I mean, this is the kind of stuff that legends are made of,” Phillips said.

While Ohtani has the potential to give a club extreme roster flexibility, managing him on both sides of the ball could be a challenge for his future manager.

“You want to maximize his production as [as a hitter and a pitcher], but in order to do that, you’re going to have to maybe pull back on both aspects of the game. It’s going to be really interesting and intriguing to see by trial and error how he’s managed in Major League Baseball,” Phillips said.

Ohtani is eligible to reach an agreement with an MLB team until 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 22. The winner of the Ohtani sweepstakes will pay the Ham Fighters a maximum posting fee of $20 million.

While the signing bonus and posting fee are sure to make a dent in any team’s budget, Ohtani could prove to be a tremendous bargain for the club that signs him if he performs at the high level he’s expected to. Ohtani is limited to a minor league contract because of restrictions imposed by the MLB’s collective bargaining agreement, keeping him under team control for the first six seasons of his career.

If Ohtani waited until his 25th birthday to come to the MLB, he would be eligible to sign on the open market and may have been able to fetch a contract in the neighbourhood of $200 to $300 million, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney.

“Boy, the money part is amazing. I mean, listen, I’d love to have him on my team but I wouldn’t ask him for financial advice, that’s for sure. But look, I think that location probably matters, the support group, the community around it matters, that assimilation coming in,” Phillips said.

“He’s going to make a historic impact, there’s no question about that.”