Baseball

How does one celebrate becoming the richest player in baseball?? For Juan Soto, he soaked in the milestone by getting a beer shower!!

Soto's younger brother and member of the Nationals organization, Elian, showed off the $765 million party on his Instagram story ... with the new New York Met chilling in a hot tub as booze was poured all over his head.

While the star hitter is excited about his new $50 million annual salary, Mets fans are just as pumped for him to switch boroughs -- shortly after the news broke, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell posted himself on a FaceTime call with Soto -- with both giving wide grins.

Shohei Ohtani didn't seem fazed about losing his title of highest-paid player in baseball on Sunday ... 'cause he was busy enjoying the Los Angeles Lakers game with his stunning wife!!

The Dodgers superstar and Mamiko Tanaka left their adorable pup, Decoy, at home for a date night at Crypto.com Arena ... and with LeBron James out for the contest against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Shohei provided plenty of star power.

The 30-year-old and his former hooper bae had great seats for the Purple and Gold's 107-98 victory ... and at one point in the night, they were shown on the scoreboard to a massive ovation.

Baseball fans can now get their hands on some John Elway Yankees cards -- Topps has just put the NFL legend in a new set ... and it announced the move with a hilarious Larry David commercial!

Elway, of course, was drafted by New York way back in 1981 -- but despite initially playing for the org.'s minor league affiliate ... he bailed on the team for a Hall of Fame NFL career.

He never quite got a baseball card to commemorate the brief time in the MLB -- but Topps is changing that now ... throwing cards of him donning Pinstripes in its new 2024 Bowman Draft set.

Kai Asakura is fighting for the flyweight title in the main event of UFC 310 -- his first-ever bout in the United States -- and the Japanese MMA star says there's one special person he'd love to see Octagon-side ... Shohei Ohtani!

TMZ Sports recently chopped it up with 31-year-old Asakura before his UFC debut -- a title bout vs. Alexandre Pantoja going down December 10 in Las Vegas -- and the 21-4 fighter hopes the newly minted World Series champ can squeeze in a trip to Sin City.

"I have never met [Ohtani]," Asakura told us through a translator. "But I'd love him to come and watch my fight."

Vanessa Hudgens was on Cloud 9 at "Monday Night Raw" ... getting a special meet-and-greet with some of her favorite WWE Superstars!!

The actress and her husband, baseball player Cole Tucker, took a break from parenting to enjoy a date night in Glendale, Ariz. ... and they made the best of it by checking out some good old-fashioned wrasslin'.

On top of getting to witness all the in-ring action, the two were even able to spend time backstage with some of the Superstars ... and made sure to snap pics with some huge names in the organization.

If ya missed out on the sale of Shohei Ohtani's historic 50/50 home run baseball, don't worry ... another cool artifact from the Dodgers superstar has just hit the auction block -- one of his old Nippon Professional Baseball league jerseys!!

TMZ Sports has learned ... a Nippon-Ham Fighters uniform Shohei rocked during the 2017 NPB season was posted to Grey Flannel Auctions this week -- and it's pretty awesome.

It's got Ohtani's name on the back, his former squad on the front -- and some unique markings on the tags.

Shohei Ohtani keeps doing things no baseball player has ever done.

The Dodgers superstar unanimously won the National League's Most Valuable Player award Thursday, becoming the first full-time designated hitter to take home the hardware.

In his first season with the Dodgers, Ohtani became the first big leaguer to have 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. Ohtani's 54 homers were top in the NL and his 59 stolen bases ranked second in all of MLB.

Tarik Skubal had a birthday he won't forget anytime soon ... not only did he win the 2024 American League Cy Young award -- his wife got him a brand-new car!

The wife of the 28-year-old Detroit Tigers flame thrower led him outside to the driveway ... and when Tyler locked eyes on the car, clearly shocked, he gave his wife a big hug.

The group then sang Happy Birthday... and his friends doused him with champagne!

Anthony Banda sure wouldn't mind it if his Dodgers squad boasted a lineup that featured Shohei Ohtani AND Juan Soto in 2025 ... telling TMZ Sports he's hopeful it goes down!!

Soto, of course, is a free agent after spending this past season in New York ... and Los Angeles is reportedly one of just a few teams that's in play for his services for the foreseeable future.

In fact, according to MLB.com, the Boys in Blue were expected to meet with him just this week to deliver their recruiting pitch.

Late Boston Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield's Florida estate is up for sale ... TMZ has learned.

Tim's waterfront mansion hit the market Friday ... and it's listed for $3.3 million.

Tim lived in the 4-bedroom home in Indian Harbour Beach, FL when he died from brain cancer.

Forget tens of thousands of dollars ... the lucky baseball fan who scores the ultra-rare, MLB Debut Paul Skenes card just got an offer for the piece from Livvy Dunne and the Pittsburgh Pirates that's going to be very tough to refuse.

In a statement released Friday, the Pirates said they're willing to fork over two tickets behind home plate for Pittsburgh games for the next THIRTY YEARS, a meet-and-greet with Skenes himself, a bunch of autographs and several other experiences ... in exchange for the 1-of-1 card.

Livvy -- Skenes' famous girlfriend -- added minutes later that she'd sweeten the pot ... by offering up a seat next to her at one of the pitcher's games next season.

The Tampa Bay Rays have a new home for the 2025 season ... the team just announced it'll be playing in a minor league ballpark next year -- after Hurricane Milton ravaged Tropicana Field in October.

Rays owner Stuart Sternberg said in a statement Thursday that he, the MLB, and the Yankees reached an agreement this week that will allow his squad to move into the Pinstripes' Steinbrenner Field in Tampa for the foreseeable future.

Sternberg thanked the Rays' rival org. for the hospitality ... calling New York's helping hand gracious.

Fernando Valenzuela's cause of death has been revealed -- the Los Angeles Dodgers legend died of septic shock.

TMZ Sports has obtained the 1981 World Series champion's death certificate ... which listed decompensated alcoholic cirrhosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis cirrhosis as underlying causes.

The medical examiner also suspects Valenzuela suffered from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease ... a rare brain disorder.

Francisco Lindor has arrived in Los Angeles ... and given Mets boss Steve Cohen is slated to meet with Juan Soto in Southern California this week -- it sure appears the NY shortstop is now in town to help recruit the star free agent.

The 30-year-old NL MVP finalist flew in to LAX on Sunday evening ... just a few days after multiple reports stated Cohen, Soto and Soto's super agent, Scott Boras, would sit down in the L.A.-area to talk about a potential future with the Mets.

Lindor was mum with a photographer at the airport on whether or not he would be a part of this week's efforts to get Soto in the Blue and Orange ... but he did say he wished "nothing but the best" for the outfielder.

Steve Garvey grounded out during his run for public office in California ... but the Dodgers legend tells TMZ Sports there are only positives to take away from his first at-bat in politics!!

We caught up with the former MLB star shortly after the AP called his race against Adam Schiff for a seat in the United States Senate ... but despite the outcome, the World Series champ was proud of the work his campaign did.

"We're gonna end up with six to seven million votes, new platform in California for moderates," he said. "I'm very proud of the people for standing up. We've registered more people in 58 counties there. All the good things."

The MLB's best two-way player is down to just one arm for the time being ... Shohei Ohtani had shoulder surgery this week -- and as you can see, one of his wings is now immobilized by a sling.

Ohtani went under Dr. Neal ElAttrache's knife on Tuesday in L.A. to repair the labrum he tore while trying to steal a base in Game 2 of the World Series -- and on Thursday, he appeared in OK spirits.

Rockin' a burnt-orange cap and a pair of sweats, Ohtani's left arm was held close to his body by a big ol' brace -- but he didn't seem to be too hindered.