Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers gained two out of three of their weekend highway sequence in opposition to the Toronto Blue Jays.
It was the primary time the Dodgers performed north of the border for the reason that Blue Jays’ failed offseason pursuit of Ohtani. It was additionally the primary time for the reason that notorious Toronto-bound flight that the two-way, two-time AL MVP was rumored to be on however wasn’t.
ESPN’s Dan Shulman, who additionally serves because the Blue Jays play-by-play announcer for Sportsnet, mentioned Ohtani’s return to Toronto on Monday throughout an look on the “Foul Territory” podcast.
“I feel Canadians are very nice till they resolve that they do not wish to be good after which they will get after individuals fairly good. However (the boos had been) pretty loud,” Shulman stated. “Each Blue Jay fan hoped that Shohei Ohtani was going to be a Blue Jay and numerous them received caught up that day. You understand, ‘Is he on the airplane or not? Is he significantly contemplating the Blue Jays or not?’ And it did not occur, so there is a sure a part of the fan base I suppose that felt like possibly they had been leveraged by Ohtani’s representatives or no matter.”
The December flight left from Anaheim, the place Ohtani spent the primary six seasons of his profession with the Los Angeles Angels. The morning of the flight, MLB Community’s Jon Morosi reported that the Blue Jays had been one of many finalists within the Ohtani free-agency race.
Three days after what ended up being a random worldwide flight, Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700M contract to affix the Dodgers.
The three-time All-Star has teamed up with fellow former MVPs Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman on the heart of a loaded lineup to guide Los Angeles to an 18-12 begin. With the remainder of the NL West beneath .500 coming into Monday, the Dodgers at present have the largest division lead in baseball.
Ohtani is an early front-runner for his third MVP, as he leads MLB in doubles (14) and is tied with Betts for the highest spot in complete bases (78).
The Blue Jays offense, in the meantime, has struggled mightily by way of the primary month of the season. Toronto ranks twenty sixth in MLB in runs scored (103) and twenty seventh in RBI (95).
