Blue Jays manager playfully requests Shohei Ohtani return team gifts from free agency meeting
Before Toronto Blue Jays fans began dreaming about winning a World Series, they were dreaming about Shohei Ohtani signing with them in free agency.
The two-way megastar met with the Blue Jays Dec. 4, 2023, at their spring training complex in Dunedin, Florida, before eventually signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Game 1 of the Fall Classic begins at 8 p.m. ET Friday at the Rogers Centre and will be broadcast exclusively on FOX. And Ohtani will be the first batter the Blue Jays face.
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 would like back.
"I hope he brought his hat, the Blue Jay hat that he took from us in our meeting. I hope he brought it back, finally," Schneider said Thursday.
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"And the jacket for Decoy," he added. "It’s like, ‘Give us our stuff back already.’"
Ohtani smiled when he heard about Schneider’s remarks and simply said through a translator, "It’s in my garage."
Last season was Ohtani’s first with the Dodgers, and he won the NL MVP, hitting .310 with 54 homers, 130 RBIs and 59 stolen bases, while helping the Dodgers to a World Series title.
This season, he returned to the mound and continued his dominant play. Pitching in a limited role after returning from elbow surgery, he batted .282 with 55 homers, 102 RBIs and 20 steals while going 1-1 with a 2.87 ERA in 14 starts, striking out 62 in 47 innings.
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His strong regular season has him in contention to win the fourth MVP Award of his career.
Ohtani’s latest feat was one of the most legendary performances in MLB postseason history. He homered three times while pitching six shutout innings and striking out 10 against the Milwaukee Brewers as the Dodgers completed a four-game sweep of the NL Championship Series.
"He’s a great player," Schneider said. "But that aside, I think that we have a great team and just an unbelievable cast of characters and players. I think things worked out the way they’re meant to work out."
The Blue Jays manager said he wasn’t sure how close the team came to signing the Japanese superstar.
"When we met with him, you felt good about it, and you felt good about the feedback he was giving about our organization and opportunity here," Schneider said. "But you never really know what a player’s feeling in free agency, and there’s a lot of things that have to line up for them personally, too. So, you can’t really think about what if. You think about the 26 (players) that we have."
Nearly two years after Ohtani’s decision in free agency to choose the Dodgers over the Blue Jays, both teams are in the World Series.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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