The Los Angeles Dodgers swiped Shohei Ohtani from signing with the Toronto Blue Jays nearly two years ago. Now Ohtani is hearing about a certain hat heading into the World Series — the one Toronto gave him.
Toronto manager John Schneider joked about the Blue Jays hat handed to Ohtani before the WS. Now the versatile pitcher/designated hitter dropped a brutally honest take Thursday during media day, via Ben Nicholson-Smith of SportsNet Toronto.
“Shohei Ohtani says yes, he still has the hat the Blue Jays gave him in his garage. Considers the Blue Jays a ‘top class' organization,” Nicholson-Smith posted on the social media website X, formerly Twitter.
Again, the Blue Jays allowed Ohtani to tour their facilities during his free agency period. L.A. still offered a whopping $700 million to Ohtani before he accepted the history-making deal.
Did Blue Jays manager ask for Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani to return hat?
Schneider now must get his pitchers to raise their game another level against Ohtani. Plus his hitters when Ohtani takes the mound.
But he also sent this request to Ohtani, jokingly made via Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.
“I hope he brought the hat,” Schneider said. “The Blue Jays hat that he took from our meeting.”
And that's not all, as Schneider revealed.
“And the jacket for decoy,” Schneider said. “Give us our stuff back.”
Ohtani and the Toronto merch has now become a popular topic ahead of Game 1. It'll likely fuel some home fan signs inside the Rogers Centre. Meanwhile, Ohtani earns a brand new chance to cement his legacy as one of the world's top athletes by leading a second WS run in L.A.
