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Los Angeles Dodgers star and two-time MVP Shohei Ohtani has signed an exclusive long-term global trading card deal with Topps, a division of Fanatics Collectibles, it was announced Thursday.

Ohtani has signed other deals with Fanatics — including an exclusive autograph, collectibles and memorabilia deal in 2021, but it didn’t include sports cards.

“Ohtani’s been a part of the Topps family since he signed with the Angels in late 2017, early 2018, so this deal is super important to us,” said David Leiner, president of trading cards at Fanatics Collectibles. “Best player in the game, unique, global player, who pitches and hits. You’ve got to have this guy in product, you’ve got to have his autographs and memorabilia for fans to chase.”

The agreement includes autographs and game-used memorabilia cards and will feature cards centered around moments and achievements, involving U.S.- and Japan-based products, a bourgeoning region for Topps and collecting.

“I’m happy to be exclusively partnering with Topps to give fans unique cards and collectibles for seasons to come,” Ohtani said in a statement.

Ohtani joins fellow Japanese players Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui with Topps deals.

“Japanese allocation is a big piece and you better believe, for the accounts in Japan, there’s never enough [product],” Leiner says. “They’re always asking for more. Our largest Japanese partner, Mint Collectibles, they own and operate a chain of 28 stores across Japan and the hobby is vibrant over there.”

In early January 2018, Fanatics opened an office in Tokyo and launched Fanatics Japan, nearly four years to the day before acquiring Topps. Topps followed suit, opening an office in Tokyo in 2021.

“We’re pushing, we’re well-distributed,” Leiner says. “7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Lawson’s, the hobby is in its early stages there, but we’re going to continue to push and grow there. Japan is a great baseball country, a passionate group of folks over there, and [Shohei] is so important back home.”

Leiner notes that 2025 Opening Day is the Dodgers vs. the Chicago Cubs in mid-March at the Tokyo Dome: “Look for some fun stuff there featuring our newly exclusive man.”

While financial details weren’t disclosed, Leiner said the deal is similar to the one Fanatics inked with Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James in January and “longer than many of the other deals you see us doing.”

“We want to change the way our athlete partnership group works,” Leiner says. “Historically, trading card companies would stick a thousand cards in front of an athlete in a hotel room on the road or something, scribbling away. It’s no secret, these guys make a lot of money, [but] we want true partnerships, 360 deals; they’re gonna sign their cards, that’s part of the gig, but there’s bells and whistles — marketing and partnering on the category, social media — and we’re trying to, like with LeBron, bring Shohei into the family and have a true partnership.”

While the deal doesn’t include contractual appearances, given the level and stature of the deal Leiner says, Topps and Fanatics expect Ohtani to participate in programs and elevate the collectible category on social media authentically.

Leiner also notes that Ohtani is a collector himself.

“When he signs cards” — which Leiner notes Topps continues to have flexibility on, Ohtani signing inscriptions in English or Kanji — “he asks a lot of questions, looks at them, understands them and likes them. He has some of his own cards as well, we’ve made cards for him, too; last year, we called it A Transcendent Season, put it in a really nice box, he [put] it on social media.

“He enjoys seeing kids at stadiums, fans with his cards, attempting to get them signed at the stadium. He has a lot of respect for the category, going back to when he was a growing superstar in the Nippon Professional Baseball league.”

Ohtani currently leads the NL in home runs, slugging, OPS and he’s second in RBIs and stolen bases. According to ESPN BET, he’s a -1600 favorite to win NL MVP, which would be his third MVP award in seven MLB seasons. Only 11 players in MLB history have won three.

“[Shohei] is a guy that has a chance to expand the sport of baseball on a global basis and something I’ve been passionate about — and we’re passionate about at Fanatics — is global expansion,” Leiner says. “This guy’s doing things we haven’t seen since Babe Ruth and hopefully [Shohei continues to convert] more fans into collectors.”

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Mets’ Manaea strains oblique, likely to start on IL

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Mets' Manaea strains oblique, likely to start on IL

New York Mets left-hander Sean Manaea has been shut down for a few weeks due to a right oblique strain and will likely start the season on the injured list, manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters Monday.

Manaea, who is projected as the team’s No. 2 starter, went 12-6 with a 3.47 ERA with 184 strikeouts with the Mets in 2024, leading to a three-year, $75 million deal in December.

“The good news is … the tendon is not involved, the rib cage is not involved,” Mendoza said of the MRI results for Manaea. “It’s just straight muscle, so he’s going to be shut down for a couple of weeks — and then we’ll reassess after that. We’ve got to build him back up again. Safe to say that he’s probably going to start the season on the IL. … Once he’s symptom-free, he’ll start his throwing.”

It is the second injury to the Mets’ starting rotation after right-hander Frankie Montas was shut down for six to eight weeks on Feb. 17 after suffering a high-grade lat strain.

Kodai Senga, Clay Holmes and David Peterson are set to top the Mets’ starting rotation to begin the season. Paul Blackburn, Griffin Canning and Tylor Megill will compete for the final two spots until Manaea and Montas return.

The Mets have also lost reserve infielder Nick Madrigal for an extended period after he suffered a fractured left shoulder during Sunday’s spring training game against the Washington Nationals.

Madrigal, who is fighting for a roster spot, fell to the ground while throwing to first base after making a bare-handed play on a ground ball. He was originally diagnosed with a dislocated shoulder but further tests revealed the fracture in his non-throwing shoulder.

Mendoza told reporters that Madrigal, who signed a one-year deal with the Mets in January, will have a CT scan and will be sidelined “for a long time.”

Field Level Media contributed to this report.

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‘New York, New York’ to play only after Yanks win

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'New York, New York' to play only after Yanks win

TAMPA, Fla. — The Yankees will play Frank Sinatra’s version of the “Theme From New York, New York” only after home wins instead of after all games in the Bronx, going back to the original custom set by owner George Steinbrenner in 1980.

The Yankees said players and staff were tired of hearing a celebratory song following defeats.

After Sunday’s 4-0 spring training loss to Detroit at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the Yankees played Sinatra’s 1966 recording of “That’s Life,” a 1963 song by Dean Kay and Kelly Gordon. The change occurred two days after the team ended the ban on beards imposed by Steinbrenner in 1976.

The team said various songs will be used after losses.

“New York, New York” first was played at the end of Yankees wins after Steinbrenner learned of Sinatra’s version from a disc jockey at Le Club, a Manhattan restaurant and disco, former team public relations director Marty Appel told The New York Times in 2015.

The song, with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, was first sung by Liza Minnelli for the 1977 Martin Scorsese film “New York, New York” and Sinatra performed it in a Don Costa arrangement for his 1980 recording “Trilogy: Past Present Future.”

For several years, the Yankees alternated the Sinatra version after wins and the Minnelli version following defeats. In recent years, the Sinatra rendition has been played after all final outs.

The Yankees said Friday that they were ending their ban on beards, fearing the prohibition might hamper player recruitment.

Hal Steinbrenner took over in 2008 as controlling owner from his father, who died in 2010.

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‘I think our pitching is going to surprise people’: Can the Mets’ rotation quiet the critics again?

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'I think our pitching is going to surprise people': Can the Mets' rotation quiet the critics again?

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Mid-February live batting practice sessions are usually forgettable, but the one held on the main field at Clover Park the day after Valentine’s Day was different for the New York Mets.

Kodai Senga, the presumed ace a year ago, faced four hitters. He threw 16 pitches, touched 96 mph and didn’t appear compromised from the shoulder injury that kept him out for all but 5⅓ innings during the 2024 regular season. Afterward, he shared laughs with catcher Luis Torrens and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner.

“I saw a smile on his face,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “That’s a good sign.”

Last spring, Senga, coming off an outstanding rookie year, was supposed to be a sure thing. Instead, he was shut down with a shoulder injury before appearing in a Grapefruit League game and started just the one game in July.

The Mets thrived without him, even with a rotation full of newcomers and uncertainty, completing an 89-win campaign capped by a trip to the National League Championship Series. But as they look to improve on that finish after a monster offseason, questions around the rotation remain.

Can Senga stay healthy? When will Frankie Montas, shut down for up to eight weeks with a lat strain, return? Will Clay Holmes, exclusively a reliever the past six seasons, successfully transition back to starting games? Will Sean Manaea continue where he left off last season after a midseason delivery change produced elite results? Was David Peterson’s career year — he posted a 2.90 ERA in 21 starts — an aberration?

“I will say, I feel much better about our starting pitching depth sitting here today than I did a year ago,” Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said days before Montas sustained his injury during his first bullpen session of camp. “We made that a priority of our offseason. We brought in a number of players at all levels of free agency.”

All levels but one: proven ace-level starting pitchers.

The Mets’ offseason will be remembered for bookend investments in All-Stars to fortify their lineup: Juan Soto in early December and Pete Alonso the week before pitchers and catchers reported for camp. For the second offseason under Stearns’ direction, though, they had holes to fill in the rotation and did not acquire any of the premium starters available.

A year after their long-term bid for Yoshinobu Yamamoto fell short, the Mets did not aggressively pursue the three top starters available in free agency: Max Fried, Blake Snell and Corbin Burnes. (Fried strengthened an already-strong rotation strength across town, signing with the New York Yankees on an eight-year, $218 million deal.)

Instead, they made low-risk, high-reward short-term investments with an emphasis on depth. They re-signed Manaea to a three-year, $75 million contract. They signed Holmes, a two-time All-Star closer, to a three-year, $38 million deal to become a starter. They added Montas, an injury-plagued right-hander who recorded a 4.84 ERA in 2024, on a two-year, $34 million deal. They signed Griffin Canning, a former top prospect, to a one-year, $4.25 million deal after the right-hander pitched to a 5.19 ERA and surrendered 31 home runs last season, the second-most in baseball, for the last-place Los Angeles Angels.

The additions join Senga, Peterson, Paul Blackburn and Tylor Megill to round out the options for a six-man rotation, which the Mets plan to deploy in large part to accommodate Senga.

“I think our pitching is going to surprise people, even though there’s a lot of talk about starting pitching,” Mets owner Steve Cohen said. “And another thing is we’re flexible. If we have to make changes or improve the team during the year, you saw what we did in ’24 and we’ll do it again in ’25.”

For all the offensive fireworks and Grimace-engineered vibes the 2024 OMG Mets produced, extracting value from the starting rotation was the foundation for their success. Luis Severino, signed to a one-year, $13 million deal, recorded a 3.91 ERA over 31 starts last year after posting a 6.65 ERA with the Yankees the year before. Jose Quintana registered a 3.75 ERA in 31 starts in his age-35 season on a $13 million salary. Manaea dropped his arm slot in his 21st start and pitched to a 3.09 ERA over his final 12 outings before the playoffs.

“[We] want to be a team that can improve players,” Cohen said. “And I think from a pitching perspective, we’re able to do that.”

Hefner pointed to Severino’s jump from 89⅓ innings in 2023 to 182 innings last season as evidence that, with the required work ethic, a successful sizable workload increase is possible.

“I feel like our performance staff does a good job of monitoring guys and not just putting reins on them,” Hefner said. “They’re very much like, ‘Let’s go. Let’s push. How far can we take them?’ As long as they’re recovering and they’re honest with us and they’re staying on top of their programs, we have full confidence that a guy could make a big jump in innings.”

In Holmes, the Mets will attempt a more extreme escalation.

The Yankees’ former closer has totaled 337⅓ innings over his seven-year career, including 63 innings each of the past two seasons. He hasn’t started a game since September 2018. To get through a lineup two or three times, Holmes said he plans on incorporating a changeup — a pitch he started tinkering with in bullpens last season — for the first time and using his four-seam fastball more often to complement his sinker (his best pitch). The goal is to build up to 90 pitches by Opening Day.

“I would say now it’s starting to get a little different,” Holmes said last week. “I threw three innings the other day. It was probably the first time I’ve done that in a while.”

Relievers have successfully made the jump to starter. Hall of Famer John Smoltz famously converted from starter to closer back to starter. For the Mets, a club with World Series aspirations, it’s a risk they decided is worth taking.

Of course, that risk won’t matter if they can’t keep their starting pitchers healthy — and that starts with Senga, who, alongside Manaea, will top a rotation the Mets hope will help lead them back to October.

“He just needs to be healthy,” Mendoza said. “As long as he’s taking the ball. But we got some good options. And we talked to him about that. He doesn’t have to be the hero, feeling like he’s the ace of the staff, because we got some options. And we like those guys at the front end of the rotation.”

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