Stephen A. Smith Shows Off Immense MLB Knowledge Following Shohei Ohtani Deal, Talks About Beer Prices At Dodger Stadium

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Stephen A. Smith hosts the biggest studio show at ESPN, First Take. That means he has to discuss all the biggest stories in sports, whether he's qualified to do so or not. On Monday, he tackled the Shohei Ohtani deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Sort of.

Ohtani signed a massive $700 million contract with the other L.A. team after spending six seasons with the Angels. The signing jumped the Dodgers ahead of the Braves as the betting favorite to win the 2024 World Series.

There are a lot of angles to talk about. First, Ohtani received the largest contract in North American sports history. By a lot. Second, there's the move to the much more popular Dodgers and how it affects Ohtani's celebrity in the United States.

Will Major League Baseball work harder to promote Ohtani as the face of the league?

However, Stephen A. Smith went another route on First Take during Monday's edition of the ESPN show.

MLB savant Stephen A. Smith went on ESPN and talked about beer prices following the historic Shohei Ohtani deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

MLB savant Stephen A. Smith went on ESPN and talked about beer prices following the historic Shohei Ohtani deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Instead of talking about Ohtani, or the Dodgers, he discussed beer prices inside Dodger Stadium. Why? I have no idea.

"Shannon, I assure you most people don't this stat," Smith begins, leading everyone to believe he's going to deliver some incredible insight on Shohei Ohtani.

"The Los Dodgers have the most expensive beer in baseball. BEER!" Smith repeated himself to make sure we all heard it.

Then, he laid out the exact cost of the beer. Like, three times.

WATCH:

Alrighty, then.

I guess he's making the point that the Dodgers can afford Ohtani because they overcharge for beer? Or perhaps that beer prices are going to rise thanks to this deal?

I give Smith a lot of credit here. He has no opinion on Shohei Ohtani or the Los Angeles Dodgers. How could he? I bet he watches fewer than five MLB games per season.

This is great work to reshape the discussion into something meaningless.

That should be the tagline for First Take.

"Reshaping the biggest discussions in sports to something meaningless."

Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it ESPN?

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Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to Outkick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named “Brady” because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.