The Dodgers might have the best starting rotation in baseball history

The Los Angeles Dodgers just signed Roki Sasaki to the most team-friendly contract in baseball. The only question now: who's their number-one starter?

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Between Sasaki, two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers' rotation has a claim to be the best 1-through-5 unit in baseball history when healthy.

Oh, and three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw vowed to re-sign in free agency when the Dodgers celebrated their World Series championship last November.

Don't plan the 2025 parade just yet. But you can pencil in the Dodgers as the early favorites.

"It was a very difficult decision," Sasaki wrote in Japanese in announcing his decision on his Instagram account Friday, "but I will do my best to make it the right decision when I look back after my baseball career."

The race for Sasaki, who was posted by Japan's Chiba Lotte Marines in December, had its share of drama. Several major league teams made pitches, but fewer than half earned in-person meetings with Sasaki's agent, Joel Wolfe. By January, only three clubs had secured a second sit-down: the Padres, Dodgers, and Blue Jays.

With one week left in his 45-day negotiating window, the Dodgers and Blue Jays stood as the finalists for Sasaki — just as they did for Ohtani a year ago.

The Dodgers won out, but Sasaki will not immediately join their major league roster. Once he passes his physical, his minor league contract will become official. Sasaki will likely earn the big-league minimum, around $700,000, when he is added to Los Angeles' major league roster.

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