"‘He's Gonna Be A Blue Jay." Inside The Day Shohei Ohtani did not fly to Toronto but everyone, including Blue Jays fans believed that his new home would be in Toronto. But they were just rumors.
‘He's gonna be a Blue Jay.' Inside the day Shohei Ohtani did not fly to Toronto
After a couple tweets, there was some speculation from online detectives who tracked down a private jet journeying from Orange County to Toronto, suggesting it could be carrying the two-way star and MVP Ohtani. The online sleuths believed that this was for a meeting or potential signing with the Blue Jays.
When it was all said and done, a photographer named Carlos Osorio tried to get the first shots of the superstar exiting the plane. As it turns out, Shohei Ohtani never flew to Toronto, it was Canadian businessman and television celebrity from Dragons Den, Robert Herjavec.
In a mix-up of epic, social media-fueled proportions, the reality of the saga suddenly became clear. Ohtani wasn't on the plane, which was actually Herjavec's personal jet (the final characters of the plane's tail number, N616RH, reportedly correspond to Herjavec's initials). The superstar slugger wasn't signing with the Blue Jays either, instead announcing the next day he was going to the Dodgers on a 10-year, $700 million deal.
It was actually news to Shohei himself as he even became interested on who was on the flight that was supposedly him.
«I was just following the news,» Ohtani said with a chuckle. «I knew I wasn't on that flight, so I was curious too.»
About a day after the flight landed without Ohtani, the free agent revealed his decision on Instagram. On December 9th, he made it official, announcing his signing with the Dodgers.
It was a sad day for Blue Jays fans as this would have been the biggest signing in Jays' History, but there was a sour taste left in our mouths.
All we got was a monster home run by Shohei when he played his first game in Rogers Centre a couple weeks back.
Blue Jays fans greeted Shohei Ohtani with loud boos in his first AB in Toronto
