Ohtani Gets Loudly Booed In Toronto, Immediately Homers

Shohei Ohtani's free agency was the story of the Major League Baseball offseason, with speculation over his final destination reaching a fever pitch in early December.

That speculation, with reporters throwing rumors around as to what he might prefer in his next team, that craziness culminated in one of the wildest days in MLB offseason history in December when one Dodgers-based reporter claimed that Ohtani had made his choice and was to join the Toronto Blue Jays. 

Other reporters contradicted it, but fans and certain media members seized on a private flight scheduled to leave Orange County, where Ohtani lives, and land in Toronto. Then a well known MLB reporter seemingly confirmed Ohtani was on it. 

Photographers went to the Toronto airport, Blue Jays fans celebrated…and then a series of reporters debunked it, saying Ohtani was at home in Newport Beach and had yet to make a decision. The next day he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Dodgers and Ohtani make their first trip to Toronto this weekend, and unsurprisingly, Blue Jays fans took out their frustration on the 29-year-old star, even though he had nothing to do with the false reports. 

How did Ohtani respond?

By launching a massive home run into right field, naturally.

The boos got pretty quiet, pretty quickly, didn't they?

Ohtani Unpopular Through No Fault Of His Own

Sports fans are notoriously stable, rational, reasonable people, so the fact that the Blue Jays crowd reacted so angrily towards Ohtani is shocking.

Of course, it isn't, even though fans' frustration should be levied towards the reporters who got the story wrong in the first place.

The Dodgers jumped out to a 9-1 lead in Toronto, and with two more games over the weekend, Blue Jays fans will have plenty more opportunities to boo Ohtani for something that wasn't his fault. And he'll have more opportunities to make them pay for it.