Dodgers Player Confirms Shohei Ohtani Likes To Troll Opposing Players

While he was a member of the Los Angeles Angels, Shohei Ohtani was known as a superstar talent on the field, and almost a complete mystery off it.

Constantly surrounded and "protected" by his translator, who eventually pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud for stealing money from Ohtani, he rarely displayed his personality. But after joining the Los Angeles Dodgers, and firing Mizuhara, Ohtani became much more demonstrative. And his teammates are loving it.

The most obvious example of Ohtani's propensity for trolling came just last month, in a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Though, at the time, it wasn't clear that Ohtani meant to troll, his teammate, reliever Blake Treinen just confirmed it.

Treinen joined the "Off the Rail" podcast recently and was asked to share an Ohtani story. He picked a great one.

"Oh, man. I just think he's like is like sneaky one of the funniest guys you play with," Treinen said. "Like we were just in, I actually wasn't there when I was watching on TV, and we were playing the Diamondbacks and like just a slugfest of a game and Gurriel hits like this go ahead, I don't know if it was a Grand Slam or something. And he throws the bat like up like this and like has his hands out wide and like makes a big celebration out of it. It wasn't like anything egregious, baseball is what it is these days, right? And then so he rounds the bases, and Shohei is, like he's kind of a troll man, and I love it. He's, in a good way, like it's tasteful, it's not…So he comes up, proceeds to hit a go-ahead homer and does the exact same celebration, clasps his hand around the bases.

"And I saw him when he came back, said, ‘Hey, was that the same celebration that Yuli [Lourdes Gurriel] did?' And he's like, [looks around and nods]."

May 9, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three run home run in the ninth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Shohei Ohtani Trolling Arizona Diamondbacks

Treinen wasn't entirely right; the Gurriel grand slam actually tied the score in the bottom of the fifth inning against the Dodgers.

But the celebration, raising his arms out, was very distinctive. And as Treinen says, not egregious at all by today's standards. Ohtani though, clearly noticed.

Arizona actually came back from several deficits in that game to take an 11-8 lead into the top of the ninth inning. The Dodgers, though, went Freddie Freeman single, Andy Pages double, Kike Hernandez double, Max Muncy single to tie the score. Then after a strikeout and hit by pitch, Ohtani launched a three-run homer to cement the rally and give the Dodgers a 14-11 lead.

Most importantly though, his celebration seemed to be a direct reference to Gurriel's earlier in the game.

With Treinen's help, we can now officially say Shohei Ohtani is a confirmed troll.