Shohei Ohtani’s free agency dominated the Major League Baseball offseason, as speculation about where he would sign reached a frenzy in early December. Reporters threw around rumors regarding his preferences for his next team, leading to an intense day in MLB history last December when one Dodgers-based reporter claimed that Ohtani had made up his mind and was joining the Toronto Blue Jays. Other reporters contradicted this claim, but fans and certain media members ran with it after a private flight scheduled from Orange County, where Ohtani resides, to land in Toronto sparked speculation. A well-known MLB reporter then seemingly confirmed that Ohtani had boarded the plane. Photographers flocked to the airport in Toronto as Blue Jays fans celebrated; however, other reporters later debunked these claims and revealed that Ohtani was still undecided at his Newport Beach home. The following day he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers instead.
During their first trip to Canada this weekend, the Dodgers and Ohtani were met by irate Blue Jays fans, who let their anger spill out onto the slugger despite the fact that he had no involvement in the false reports. The boos quieted down rather quickly as Ohtani responded with a massive home run into right field.
It’s not surprising that Blue Jays spectators were so worked up given sports fans are well known for being paragons of stability, rationality and reasonableness (not). Fans should instead direct their anger toward the journalists who made the errors initially. Unfortunately for Blue Jays faithful attending these next games at Rogers Centre this weekend against Ohtani’s Dodgers side will be offered several additional chances to boo him over something that wasn’t his fault.
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