Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani. John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Blue Jays announcer discusses fans booing Shohei Ohtani

By Victor Barbosa | Last updated 4/29/24

Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers won two out of three in their weekend road series against the Toronto Blue Jays.

It was the first time the Dodgers played north of the border since the Blue Jays' failed offseason pursuit of Ohtani. It was also the first time since the infamous Toronto-bound flight that the two-way, two-time AL MVP was rumored to be on but wasn't.

ESPN's Dan Shulman, who also serves as the Blue Jays play-by-play announcer for Sportsnet, discussed Ohtani's return to Toronto on Monday during an appearance on the "Foul Territory" podcast.

On the Shohei Ohtani boos in Toronto:
"I wouldn't say as loud as I've ever heard"@DShulman_ESPN discusses the weekend series between the @Dodgers & @BlueJays

▶️ https://t.co/hJhalZFvxx pic.twitter.com/2O3IwbuUW4
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) April 29, 2024

"I think Canadians are really nice until they decide that they don't want to be nice and then they can get after people pretty good. But (the boos were) fairly loud," Shulman said. "Every Blue Jay fan hoped that Shohei Ohtani was going to be a Blue Jay and a lot of them got caught up that day. You know, 'Is he on the plane or not? Is he seriously considering the Blue Jays or not?' And it didn't happen, so there's a certain part of the fan base I guess that felt like maybe they were leveraged by Ohtani's representatives or whatever."

The December flight left from Anaheim, where Ohtani spent the first six seasons of his career with the Los Angeles Angels. The morning of the flight, MLB Network's Jon Morosi reported that the Blue Jays were one of the finalists in the Ohtani free-agency race.

Three days after what ended up being a random international flight, Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700M contract to join the Dodgers.

The three-time All-Star has teamed up with fellow former MVPs Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman at the center of a loaded lineup to lead Los Angeles to an 18-12 start. With the rest of the NL West below .500 entering Monday, the Dodgers currently have the biggest division lead in baseball.

Ohtani is an early front-runner for his third MVP, as he leads MLB in doubles (14) and is tied with Betts for the top spot in total bases (78).

The Blue Jays offense, meanwhile, has struggled mightily through the first month of the season. Toronto ranks 26th in MLB in runs scored (103) and 27th in RBI (95).

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