LOS ANGELES—After months of speculation over his playing future, baseball phenom Shohei Ohtani announced Friday his plans to leave the Los Angeles Angels for a team in Major League Baseball. “It’s been an honor playing for the Angels, and I’ll be sad to leave, but like many great foreign players before me, I want to see how well I stack up against the best players in the world by joining a Major League Baseball team,” said Ohtani, who is expected to be the subject of a fierce bidding war as he joins the MLB, with teams including the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, and Houston Astros competing to sign the two-way star. “I also want to make sure I’m not a distraction for the other players on the Angels, especially since there have been so many MLB scouts coming to my games. I know the level of play in the major leagues will be much higher than what I’ve seen on the Angels, but I’m ready, and I’m really excited to finally be part of an MLB team. I want to take my time with my decision, though, because it would be great to find a team that I can spend my entire MLB career with.” Ohtani added that if his transition to a Major League Baseball team doesn’t pan out, he could always return to the Angels.
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