It’s no secret at this point that the Blue Jays very nearly landed Shohei Ohtani in his blockbuster free agency sweepstakes nearly two years ago. It’s been much discussed leading up to this World Series between Toronto and Los Angeles, the team that ultimately got him with a 10-year, $700 million contract. Blue Jays fans are well aware of this history. They’ve heard about it ad nauseum. And guess what?
In the ninth inning of Toronto’s 11-4 rout of the Dodgers in Game 1 on Friday night, a raucous chant of “We don’t need him” broke out while Ohtani was at the plate. It continued throughout his at-bat, the crowd of 44,353 only growing louder with each pitch. Ohtani, who had hit a harmless two-run homer in his previous at-bat after the Blue Jays had already burst out with a nine-run sixth inning, ended up walking this time and then very nearly got picked off at first base.
“I love energetic fan bases. It happens in different ways and shapes and forms in every stadium. We saw it just the last series in Seattle,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “Kind of heard [the chant], but it’s tough to talk about a player like that, to be honest with you. He’s special. I’m glad that the home run that he hit came when it came and we had a little cushion. But I love that our fans are passionate about our team.”
