Mark Walter’s pending sale of the Los Angeles Lakers is not expected to impact his standing as controlling owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to a team source granted anonymity because the Lakers sale is not finalized. Walter remaining at the top could save the Dodgers’ dynasty from immediate, damaging ramifications.Shohei Ohtani, the face of the franchise, four-time MVP and driver of the Dodgers’ thriving business in Japan as well as Los Angeles, has intertwined his future with Walter’s. When Ohtani signed his 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers in 2023, his contract included a “key man” clause tying him both to Walter and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman.If either were to leave the organization over the span of the contract, Ohtani could opt out and become a free agent after that season.“Everybody has to be on the same page in order to have a winning organization,” Ohtani explained through an interpreter at his introductory news conference on Dec. 14, 2023. “I feel like those two are at the top of it and they’re in control of everything, and I feel almost like I’m having a contract with those two guys.“I feel like if one of them is gone, then like I said, (we) might not be on the same page, things might get a little out of control, so I just wanted like a safety net.”That safety net is still in place, even after the Lakers entered a sale agreement at a $12.5 billion valuation, the largest of any American sports franchise. ESPN first reported the news that the Lakers were being sold.Walter and Guggenheim Baseball Management’s $2.15 billion purchase of the Dodgers in 2012 was a landmark moment for the club. Their ownership of the team has coincided with what Friedman has called the “golden era” of the franchise. When trying to pitch Ohtani into signing with Los Angeles, Walter called the first decade of his ownership — in which the club became an annual postseason contender, winning a 2020 World Series and two more pennants — a failure.How Tarik Skubal strengthens the Dodgers' repeat bidKatie Woo and Jeshua KiddIn Ohtani’s first two seasons with the Dodgers, they have won the World Series, making good on a pledge Walter made to his new star.“It takes pressure off of me,” Walter said after the Dodgers won their second consecutive title last October. “Because I promised him we’d win one. And we did it.”