Shohei Ohtani might not make his decision until next week, per reports

Yesterday, it was reported that Shohei Ohtani had completed all of his meetings with the final seven teams vying for his love and attention. So all that was left to do was wait and keep an eye out for any random rumor that could be evidence of a leader of the pack.

Now, Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports is reporting that his decision could come by early next week. Which, if you look at it another way, also means that everybody has to wait until next week before we know which team wins this twisted, hilarious version of the Baseball Bachelor.

There’s no harm in Ohtani taking his time with this, since it’s a major life choice and he’s not even getting paid hundreds of millions of dollars as a cushion that would make him feel better if he makes the wrong choice.

So it’s fine, and should be supported, for him to take his time. But still, we will wait. That means an entire weekend of potential rumors, and even possibly a few days of winter meetings where every move each of the remaining seven teams makes is scrutinized like it’s a CSI crime scene in case the trade or signing has something to do with signing Ohtani.

The Padres are the front-runners, it seems, as Heyman reported for MLB Network that there are multiple reasons why San Diego makes sense: Ohtani’s existing relationships with multiple front-office employees, former Japanese players also working for the organization, the lack of an existing Japanese star on the roster, Ohtani’s experience training at the Padres spring training complex, and Padres manager Andy Green’s time playing in Japan.

So all of that probably means we’ll make it to early next week and he’ll go ahead and pick the Angels or something. Nobody knows anything and we have another half a week to freak out before there’s a concrete decision to be made.