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Fans at the Rogers Center in Tornto loudly booed Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani before Game 1 of the World Series on Friday.
While it’s common for fans to jeer opposing players during pregame lineups, the boos that serenaded Ohtani were especially loud compared to those given to his Dodgers teammates.
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Ohtani also didn’t quiet the crowd when he made his first plate appearance of the game, striking out to open the first inning.
When Ohtani entered free agency in the winter of 2023, he visited the Blue Jays as a potential suitor before signing with the Dodgers.
The Blue Jays gave Ohtani a hat and a jacket for Decoy, Ohtani’s dog. Both of those gifts, Blue Jays manager John Schneider joked, he’d like to have back.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays will face off in the 2025 World Series. (FOX)
“I hope he brought his hat, the Blue Jay hat that he took from us at our meeting. I hope he finally brought it back,” Schneider said Thursday.
“And the jacket for Decoy,” he added. “It’s like, ‘Give us our stuff back already.'”
Ohtani smiled when he heard Schneider’s remarks and simply said through a translator, “He’s in my garage.”
The Blue Jays manager said he wasn’t sure how close the team was to signing the Japanese superstar.
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) reacts to the Toronto Blue Jays’ strikeout during the first inning in Game 1 of the 2025 MLB World Series at Rogers Center. (Dan Hamilton/Imagn Images)
“When we met him, you felt good and the feedback he was giving about our organization and the opportunities here,” Schneider said. “But you never really know how a player feels in free agency, and there’s a lot of things that have to line up for him personally as well. So you can’t really think about what if. You think about the 26 (players) we have.”
