As the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes intensify, the San Diego Padres are “cautiously optimistic” he will sign in San Diego.

Sasaki’s camp told five teams — the San Francisco Giants, New York Yankees and Mets, Texas Rangers, and Chicago Cubs — that he would not be signing with them on Monday.

That leaves just San Diego, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Toronto Blue Jays as the final teams in play.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that San Diego is “cautiously optimistic” that Sasaki will be a member of the Padres by the end of next week.

The Padres are cautiously optimistic he’s coming their way https://t.co/8PFqaKPA0H

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 14, 2025

It was revealed Sunday that San Diego had a second meeting with Sasaki over the weekend before news of his updated teams broke.

In another good reason to be optimistic, there was a video that emerged of Roki Sasaki reportedly pitching at Petco Park in San Diego.

No other teams have had a video emerge of Sasaki going as far as getting reps in on their home field.

Through every chapter of this offseason saga, nothing has been conventional in MLB teams’ pursuits of the 23-year-old.

For starters, the playing field is somewhat evened out since Sasaki is under the age of 25. The MLB states, “foreign-born players unless they are at least 25 years of age and have played as a professional in a foreign league recognized by Major League Baseball for a minimum of six seasons” are subject to the international bonus pool.

Each team’s pool ranges from roughly $5.1 million to a maximum of $7.5 million.

The Dodgers have a league-low $5.1 million pool whereas the Padres have $6.2 million.

San Diego doesn’t just have a little over $1 million more to offer than the other Southern California Sasaki finalist, but has a pitcher who is a “godfather-like presence” to the young phenom.

Yu Darvish was openly unhappy last offseason seeing his World Baseball Classic teammates Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto sign with the Dodgers, but has recently expressed a willingness to help his organization when it comes to Sasaki.

“If there is an opportunity or if I am asked to join a meeting, I’m here in San Diego throughout the offseason,” said Darvish. “So if there is a time or if they want me to come join a meeting, then, yeah, I’ll be happy to do that.”

Sasaki has a career ERA of 2.02 with 524 strikeouts to only 91 walks in his 414.2 innings pitched in Japan.