SF Giants made their mess even worse by losing Ohtani chase to Dodgers

The San Francisco Giants are once again runners-up — or in third place, fourth place, who knows — for a superstar free agent who would have instantly given them credibility both on the field and with the fan base. And this time it’s much, much worse.

Shohei Ohtani is headed to the Dodgers, the absolute last place any Giants fan wanted to see him go, for an earth-shattering $700 million over 10 years. It’s an all-too-familiar feeling after last year with Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa, and a few years prior to that with Bryce Harper, and years and years prior to that with Vlad Guerrero, etc., etc. But those misses were just disheartening; this one is soul-crushing. Ohtani is a Dodger for the next decade. Three presidential elections will have passed before his contract is up. It’s a nightmare.

There never seemed to be any reasonable expectation from the fans that the Giants would sign Ohtani — in fact, most had resigned themselves to thinking there was no chance — but the Giants made the mistake of giving their fan base the slightest glimmer of hope that they were serious contenders for his services. Big-money teams like the Cubs dropping out, whispers that Ohtani didn’t want to play in New York, Dave Roberts breaking the omertà imposed by Ohtani’s agent and confirming their meeting, it all seemed like things might break the Giants’ way. Fans, against their better judgment, started to believe.

I can’t help but think back to the interrogation scene in “The Dark Knight,” when the Joker leans in and tells Batman, “There’s no going back. You’ve changed things, forever.” Fans seemed resigned to the fact that they had no chance at signing another superstar this winter. The Giants giving them even a scintilla of hope that they might sign Ohtani changed things. The apathy that last winter and the ensuing season caused is still there, but now it’s mixed again with righteous anger and exasperation. Giants fans have become the Joker.

For all of the potential fits for Ohtani around the league, there really was no team with bigger stakes than the Giants. Desperate for a superstar to build their team around, they by far had the most to lose. They almost had to make this happen, and now that it’s over — now that he’s on the damn Dodgers — the fallout will be intense.

The Ohtani saga gave them hope, but still, most were in a weird sort of emotional state where they still believed, deep down, the Giants had no chance of landing him but were starting to be worn down by the temptation of telling themselves, “Well, maybe…” The longer the Giants lingered as contenders, the more invested the fan base became. And now, that invested fan base has no payoff. Now, that invested fan base has to watch their bitter rival add yet another superstar.

It’s as if the Giants lit a long, slow-burning fuse, and the end result wasn’t an explosion of happiness but one of unmitigated rage. Fans feel stupid for giving the Giants the benefit of the doubt. They’re more likely to convince themselves to never care about this team again than to rush out to buy tickets. There isn’t a lot of in-between, not after the disappointments of Judge, Correa, and contract after contract handed out to underperforming, underwhelming veterans. And especially not after seeing Ohtani put on Dodger blue.

The Giants created a zero-sum game for themselves in their pursuit of Ohtani. Even after missing out on him, they still have ample opportunities to improve the team and get back into contention next year. There are smart, sensible moves out there waiting to be made along with a splash or two, either through free agency or trade. But will that be enough to get the fans to care again? If there’s another offseason with no superstar addition, will any move the Giants make be seen as another Michael Conforto, Mitch Haniger or Ross Stripling-type situation? In an unprecedented era of superstar Bay Area athletes, the Giants are far, far behind the 49ers and Warriors. Smart and sensible moves may be enough to get them into Wild Card contention, but they won’t be enough to capture the attention of ticket buyers. Anything less than Ohtani will be seen as a failure, and that’s where the Giants landed.

For a minute there it looked like Ohtani was going to head to Toronto, and though disappointed, Giants fans were a bit more forgiving. At least it wasn’t the Dodgers. The “somewhat break even” mentality has reduced this once proud franchise to celebrating things the Dodgers couldn’t accomplish, and now they can’t even do that. The Giants are quickly becoming an afterthought in the national media, on the West Coast and even in their own city. Things have to change, and change fast.

There’s another famous “The Dark Knight” line: “The night is darkest just before the dawn.” It’s getting pretty dark out there for Giants fans. A little daylight would be welcomed.