The rivalry between two of the biggest-market teams in the MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, appears to be heating up. The Dodgers have already surpassed the Yankees as the most-followed MLB team on Instagram thanks to their acquisition of Shohei Ohtani, the most marketable baseball player in history. But the simmering rivalry does not stop there. Both teams remain in hot pursuit of the biggest name on the starting pitcher market in free agency, Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

In fact, the latest update from Jon Heyman of the New York Post on the Yamamoto sweepstakes shows that it will all come down to a photofinish between the Dodgers and Yankees when it comes to which team is able to secure the 25-year old Japanese international's services.

“The speculation is that he would like a big stage […], the Yankees and the Dodgers are, I would put them as co-favorites at the moment,” Heyman said in an appearance on MLB Network Hot Stove.

“The interesting question, I think is, if he does want the big stage, does he want to share it with Ohtani? […] Or maybe he'd like a little more of the spotlight himself, and [even though it's] hard to believe that he'll get more of the the spotlight in New York but that's probably the case here.”

As Jon Heyman pointed out, it all boils down to Yoshinobu Yamamoto's preference in the end. The Yankees have a rich history of securing the services of high-profile Japanese players, but with the Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani's presence could mean that his transition stateside could be that much easier.

Nevertheless, Heyman made sure to note that beyond the Dodgers and the Yankees, there are five other teams that may be in the mix. Those teams are the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants, two teams that have already met with Yamamoto, while the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, and Toronto Blue Jays are believed to be meeting with him soon as well.

Given Yoshinobu Yamamoto's consistency in the NPB, not to mention his appealing age relative to other free agents, it's not too hard to understand why many teams are falling head over heels over the possibility of adding him to their roster.