Which MLB Team Has the Best Shot at Landing Shohei Ohtani?

Chicago Cubs

2017 Starting Rotation Performance: 11.8 fWAR, 4.05 ERA, 4.24 SIERA, 21.9% strikeout rate

Current Rotation: Jon Lester, Jose Quintana, Kyle Hendricks, Mike Montgomery, Eddie Butler

Potential 2018 Impact

A year after winning the World Series with a stellar starting rotation, the Cubs didn't look quite as solid in 2017. They were already going to need some rotation reinforcements based off the above performance, but it goes into overdrive with Jake Arrieta being a free agent.

Ohtani wouldn't necessarily slide right into the front of Chicago's rotation like some other teams he's considering, but he helps lengthen out this group quite a bit. Lester's 4.07 SIERA hasn't been that high since it was 4.01 in 2012 with the Boston Red Sox, but he's still the leader of this staff, followed by solid younger (and inexpensive) pieces in Quintana and Hendricks.

Ohtani would essentially be coming in and taking the place of Arrieta, who was a crucial piece to Chicago's three consecutive NLCS appearances. This club's championship window is right now, and adding a player like Ohtani would only add fuel to that fire.

Feasible Long-Term Fit?

What's attractive about joining a rotation that already has Lester, Quintana, and Hendricks is the fact that they're all under contract through at least 2020. This would give the Cubs some cost certainty while having to figure out which (or how many) of their stud position players are going to eventually get paid.

It's a little harder to see how Ohtani gets semi-regular at-bats given the composition of Chicago's roster, but the plus here for Theo Epstein and the organization is that Joe Maddon is the perfect kind of manager for this. In recent years, he was able to get Willson Contreras -- his starting catcher -- some reps in the outfield, while Javier Baez played five different positions in 2017.

Epstein's history with Japanese players -- most notably Daisuke Matsuzaka -- will likely also help, but it's certainly not as good of a fit as some of the other teams who have made it onto Ohtani's final list.