TORONTO (AP) — Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts doesn't think Shohei Ohtani heard fans in Toronto taunting him during Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night, and he doesn't think the Japanese two-way sensation is bothered much by boos anyway.
Upset that Ohtani spurned the Blue Jays to sign a $700 million contract with the Dodgers in December 2023, fans in Toronto chanted “We don’t need you!” when he came to the plate in the ninth inning with his team trailing by seven runs.
Fans also booed Ohtani during pregame introductions. Ohtani appeared to smile at those jeers, but Roberts doesn't think he caught the late barbs.
Ohtani was booed and met with the same chant — but not from the entire crowd — leading off Game 2, when he flied out to left field. He was 1 for 4 in Saturday's 5-1 victory that evened the Series.
“I don’t think he understood the chants,” Roberts said before Game 2. “As far as being booed, I think that he understands why he was booed. I don’t think he minds it. I don’t think it necessarily fuels his fire. I’ve used this word with Shohei a lot: he’s just a really good compartmentalizer, so I don’t think it really affects him, and he’s just there to just do his job.”
Roberts later said Ohtani was too focused on batting to pay attention to the chants in the ninth.
“He was hitting and it was muddled,” Roberts said. “I heard it, but I wasn’t hitting. My point being is that I understand he understands the language, but he’s still hitting in the box. I don’t think his focus was on a chant.”
Ohtani hit his first World Series homer Friday but also grounded out with the bases loaded in the second inning. His lone hit was the soaring two-run shot to right field off Braydon Fisher in the seventh, but it came with LA trailing 11-2.
Ohtani faced four different pitchers, two right-handers and two left-handers, in his five plate appearances. He finished 1 for 4 with a walk and struck out twice.
“That’s what we’re trying to do,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said of the different looks. “It’s a seven-game series. You never know how it unfolds, but I’m sure at some point there’ll be some familiarity."
As MLB commissioner Rob Manfred noted on the field before Game 2, Ohtani has sparked record viewership in Japan by helping the Dodgers reach the Series in consecutive years.
“Shohei, it just absolutely has been the greatest benefit to the game that you can imagine throughout the year,” Manfred said. “In the LCS he had probably the greatest game of all time and we’re fortunate to have him here in the World Series.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
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