The Shohei Ohtani souvenir cup is the latest proof that Ohtani's collectible market is unlike anything in baseball. But is it really worth the steep cost?
That’s the price the Los Angeles Dodgers slapped on their new limited-edition Shohei Ohtani collectible drinkware — and the internet responded exactly the way you’d expect. The cup debuted at Dodger Stadium’s season opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks on March 26, priced at $74.
99. After taxes, fans were looking at approximately $82 to hold a fountain soda in a vessel designed to resemble Ohtani’s jersey, complete with a textured plastic feel mimicking the fabric. In one TikTok video, a Dodgers fan was about to buy the cup when he was told the price. He quickly handed the cup back to the cashier and ended up not buying it. The backlash was swift and loud, especially from fans already shelling out for tickets, parking, concessions and apparel at Dodger Stadium. And it worked. By Saturday’s game, the price had been quietly shaved to $68.99.Originally, the Shohei Ohtani cup came with free refills on the day of purchase only. After fans made their displeasure abundantly clear, the team changed the deal to free fountain soda refills for the entire 2026 season. For context, a regular souvenir cup with fountain soda costs $12 at Dodger Stadium. That means after just six refills, the Ohtani cup theoretically pays for itself. Suddenly, the math looked very different for season ticket holders — including 41-year-old Angel Yanez and his 18-year-old son. “It makes more sense through the year, we are season pass holders. We’re going to utilize the cups every time we are here,” Yanez, who plans to attend every home game, told the New York Post.That single post did more to expose the psychology of stadium markup than any economics lecture ever could. When unlimited refills can be tossed in as a damage-control sweetener, it tells you everything about what that drink actually costs the venue.Here’s where the story flips. Despite the outrage — or maybe because of it — the cups sold out during Saturday’s game. The exact number produced remains unclear, but that didn’t matter to some.Fans who paid approximately $80 at the stadium may have inadvertently scored a deal. On one hand, fans like Yanez will get plenty of use out of it. On the other hand, fans were flipping it for a quick buck. Those who rage-scrolled past it? They might have missed one of the few bargains at a Dodgers game this season.The cup frenzy fits neatly into a broader Ohtani collectible ecosystem that has gone completely vertical. For example, one of his game-used World Baseball Classic jerseys sold for $1.5 million, surpassing the previous record of $1.25 million for an Ohtani game-used jersey.He also has the top-selling jersey in all of baseball and his trading cards are selling more than any other baseball player — with more than 37,000 being sold on the secondary market this year, per The Athletic.In fact, some of Ohtani’s cards come with a price tag of over $2 million and others are seeing price increases unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.
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