TORONTO — Shohei Ohtani was curious about the madness surrounding his whereabouts last December, too.
“I was just following the news,” Ohtani said this week through interpreter Will Ireton. “I knew I wasn’t on that flight, so I was curious too.”
Yes, Ohtani was considering signing with the Toronto Blue Jays this past winter. The organization’s optimism wasn’t unfounded when it saw Ohtani take home a cap and a Canada-themed jacket for his dog, Dekopin. He was impressed with the organization through his tour of its spring complex in Dunedin, Fla., and had enjoyed his visits across the border.
But no, he was never on that private plane from Orange County to Toronto that captured the baseball world. He didn’t even know about the flight when it popped up on a Reddit post or when an inaccurate report cited that the two-time MVP was on it. Nor had he finalized his decision when another reporter inaccurately called off the biggest free agency in the sport, claiming Ohtani was coming to Toronto.
Ohtani did arrive in Toronto on Friday, a man seemingly at peace. He sat at his corner locker and unwrapped a bento box, eating hurriedly as a mass of reporters entered the room, then shuffled into a new change of clothes and headed to a hitters’ meeting. Then baseball’s $700 million man slid into a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform.
The Japanese superstar was earnest about his interest in potentially coming to Toronto and said he was as surprised as anyone to see the inaccurate reports about where he was racking up his frequent flyer miles. That did little to impede the Rogers Centre crowd from dispensing a smattering of boos when his name was called in pregame introductions. It turned into a roar as he stepped into the batter’s box for the first time.
Shohei takes flight in Toronto! pic.twitter.com/pCQ0Q209lp
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 26, 2024
Then, Ohtani did what he has always done. Toronto starter Chris Bassitt tried a slider inside. Ohtani didn’t miss it, turning the boos into oohs for a solo home run. It didn’t stop the crowd of 39,688 from booing again each time Ohtani strode to the plate in the 12-2 Dodgers victory.
“Not surprised,” Ohtani said, laughing. He understood the Blue Jays fans’ passion, he explained. “Aside from how the fans may or may not think. I’m just very grateful for the teams that approached me and wanted to sign me. … Ultimately, I could only choose one team.”
Yet then the invective hurled from the crowd struck the rest of the Dodgers as something of a surprise. After all, it wasn’t Ohtani who had claimed to be on that flight.
“It kind of caught me off-guard,” Will Smith said. “But it didn’t affect him. He hit a homer.”
“With Shohei, anything is on the table as far as spectacular things,” manager Dave Roberts said. “But I was surprised by the reception he had.”
So, as Ohtani rounded the bases to the ringing jeers, the Dodgers decided to playfully join in. Rather than give Ohtani the silent treatment when he returned to the dugout, they booed him, too. Ohtani soaked it in with a laugh.
Booooooooom. That’s what the crowd said, right? pic.twitter.com/Trrp8HkUHX
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 26, 2024
“He got a big kick out of that,” Roberts said.
Ohtani’s arrival in Los Angeles wasn’t always this clear. As the reports surfaced, Roberts was amid the worst round of golf in his life with “The Office” star Brian Baumgartner. Freddie Freeman was kept in the loop by his wife, Chelsea, who followed along on social media. Max Muncy kept an eyebrow raised with skepticism at the whole mess. Andrew Friedman, the executive who eventually helped bring Ohtani to Los Angeles, tried Ohtani’s agent, Nez Balelo, to figure out what the heck was going on.
Months later, the anxiety of that afternoon has given way to relief.
“Here it is!” Roberts guffawed when a Toronto reporter brought up the flight. He rehashed the story of his mid-round blow-up that he’s told countless times in the months since.
“I stopped keeping score,” Roberts said of the round. “That’s very telling.”
The Dodgers manager has yet to play a second round with Baumgartner, who played Kevin on the hit show, but he at least knows it won’t be as stressful.
“The floor was low,” Roberts said.
And Ohtani has shown in his first month with his new club that his ceiling might very well be getting higher, at least at the plate. The club’s newest star remains a marvel, from his ability to generate hard contact (no hitter in baseball has hit a ball harder, and no one has hit a ball hard more often, according to Statcast) to his ability to simply and effectively general hellacious cuts while still maintaining a massive margin for error. Only his teammate Mookie Betts has a higher OPS this season.
James Outman called him “absurd.” Roberts likened him to his former teammate Barry Bonds. When a reporter asked hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc this spring about what impressed him most about his new slugger, Van Scoyoc interrupted before the question was even over: The twitchiness of his movements was special.
“When it comes to Ohtani, I can’t really speak on it,” Betts said this week. “Nobody can really do what he does. … I mean, I can’t do 90 percent of the things that he can do, so I don’t even try.”
By all accounts, Ohtani has fit right in. He’s been open about how grateful he’s been for the support of those in the organization. Those around the club have noted a freer, more personal, “fun-loving” Ohtani than the designated hitter whose life operated solely in the batter’s box in his first weeks with the club. And it’s hard to argue with the results.
“I think he’s having the time of his life with the Dodgers,” Roberts said.
On Friday, booed every time he took an at-bat, he turned the flight tracker on.
(Photo: Cole Burston / Getty Images)
