Shohei Ohtani’s soaring popularity was even more evident when it came to jersey sales.
Ohtani had the best-selling jersey in Major League Baseball this season, the first time a Japanese player finished in the top spot. The league and the Players Association released its top-20 list Friday, with rankings based on sales of Nike jerseys since Opening Day on MLBShop.com.
The Los Angeles Angels’ two-way star beat out Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr., Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, San Diego’s Fernando Tatis Jr. and Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ohtani finished in the top 10 twice before (2018, 2021), but hadn’t come close to being No. 1.
A pending free agent, Ohtani had elbow surgery last week and was shut down for much of the season’s final month because of an oblique injury.
Ohtani and nine others in the top 20 were born outside of the United States. They represent Canada, Curaçao, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.
