Shohei Ohtani has been a baseball unicorn since he joined MLB in 2018. Even when he stayed off the mound in 2024, he started a new 50-50 club (home runs and steals) on his way to a third MVP by unanimous vote. Last week, his unique skill set was on display again, with three home runs at the plate and 10 strikeouts over six shutout innings on the mound, clinching the Los Angeles Dodgers’ return to the World Series.

For all his baseball talents, Ohtani might be a bigger unicorn off the field.

Ohtani is on track to earn $100 million this year through endorsements, merchandise and licensing. The tally is 10x what the No. 2 athlete in baseball, Bryce Harper, is set to make. The only other instance of a similar disparity between the top two athletes in a major sport over the past 30 years was when Usain Bolt was at his peak, making $30 million a year, 10x anyone else in track and field.

Ohtani’s off-field haul made it an easier decision to defer 97% of his record-breaking $700 million Dodgers contract without interest. He earns $2 million a year in playing salary for 10 years and then will collect $68 million annually between 2034 and 2043.

Before Ohtani, endorsement earnings for MLB players topped out at around $10 million for Derek Jeter and Ichiro Suzuki. Ohtani’s $100 million from sponsors is a threshold reached by only three athletes ever: Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Stephen Curry, who each did it once.

Ohtani added a half-dozen companies this year to his endorsement portfolio, along with several renewals after his inaugural season with the Dodgers elevated his global standing even further. His existing major sponsors included Ito En, Kowa, Kosé and Seiko, and he added Beats, Epic Games and Secom for 2025. Ohtani is the first MLB player to be included in Epic’s Fortnite video game.

He has more than 20 brand partners, divided almost evenly between being companies headquartered in the U.S. versus Japan, but almost all the brands use him globally. New Balance is his biggest pact, where his deal is more akin to a global NBA superstar shoe deal than anything in baseball. He has his own clothing and shoe lines.

“What we’re doing with him has never been done in the game of baseball,” Nez Balelo, Ohtani’s agent at CAA, said at Sportico’s Invest West event in May. Balelo said they are strategic with Ohtani and constantly eschew deals from reputable brands. “We have to make sure we don’t overexpose him,” Balelo said. “We have to make sure we don’t put him in a situation that is too heavy of a lift.”

Ohtani ranked second among baseball’s highest-paid players this year at $102 million; Juan Soto finished on top at $129 million after signing his 15-year, $765 million free-agent deal with the New York Mets that included a $75 million signing bonus.