For a short while within the offseason, Toronto Blue Jays followers thought they had been getting arguably probably the most gifted baseball participant of all time.
Shohei Ohtani was a free agent within the winter, and rumors swirled he was en path to Toronto for a go to with the workforce.
It began when it was reported by MLB Community that Ohtani’s choice on his subsequent workforce was “imminent.”
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Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates a solo residence run with teammates within the dugout in the course of the first inning of a sport towards the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre April 26, 2024, in Toronto. (Cole Burston/Getty Photos)
Then, a publish on X, previously Twitter, went viral that stated Blue Jays’ Japanese pitcher Yusei Kikuchi made reservations for 50 folks at a Toronto sushi spot. However the large bolt got here when Reddit customers discovered there was a aircraft from Anaheim, California, the place Ohtani performed the earlier six seasons, on its option to Toronto.
MLB Community then reported that Ohtani was en path to Toronto, and one other rumor swirled that the Blue Jays had referred to as a press convention.
These studies had been rapidly debunked, although, and Ohtani finally stayed in southern California, switching to the Dodgers on a record-setting $700 million deal.
Ohtani made his first journey to Toronto this weekend for the reason that aircraft rumors, and followers made their displeasure identified by booing him intensely.
How did he reply? By hitting a mammoth residence run, after all.
For the report, the aircraft in query really belonged to Canadian businessman Robert Herjavec of “Shark Tank.”
Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits a solo residence run in the course of the first inning of a sport towards the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre April 26, 2024, in Toronto. (Cole Burston/Getty Photos)
The boos continued Saturday, and he answered with a base hit that left the bat at practically 120 mph, his hardest hit ever recorded.
Coming into Saturday, Ohtani was off to his finest begin ever offensively, hitting .354 with an MLB-leading .681 slugging share. He’s not pitching as he recovers from elbow surgical procedure.
He led the majors in 2023 with a .654 slugging share and 1.066 OPS, his .412 on-base share was second within the league, his 44 homers had been fourth and his .304 common was ninth.
Shohei Ohtani (17) of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates on the plate with Max Muncy as he scores on a Freddie Freeman single within the third inning of a sport towards the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre April 26, 2024, in Toronto. (Cole Burston/Getty Photos)
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Ohtani was additionally sensible on the mound, going 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA and 167 strikeouts in 132 innings pitched. Amongst pitchers who threw 130.0 innings, his ERA was the ninth-lowest in MLB and his Okay/9 was sixth. Amongst AL pitchers with that variety of innings, he ranked fifth and third, respectively.
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