Ohtani takes flight at Rogers Centre as Dodgers blow out Blue Jays

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There will be much bigger Los Angeles Dodgers moments in the superstar reel of Shohei Ohtani’s career, this we can almost guarantee.

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But as so many of the best in their respective sports seem capable of doing, the Japanese phenom has a sense of timing so fabulously rich it can barely be believed.

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The boos still rumbling around the Rogers Centre in his first at-bat in Toronto since spurning the team for the Dodgers, Ohtani belted a home run off of Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt.

For the one who got away, it was bombs away, the initial trigger in a shockingly embarrassing night for the Jays. The sellout crowd off 39,688 could boo Ohtani all it wanted, but Ohtani not only got the money, but the laughs, in a 12-2 Dodgers blowout win.

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The night spoke volumes to what the 2024 Blue Jays are all about to this point.

If you’ve followed the plight of the team over the past five months — and an increasingly irate fan base surely has — the narrative is a mostly concerning one. Losing out on Ohtani was followed by an underwhelming off-season when big improvement was direly needed.

That gave way to a disappointing start to 2024 for a team that has been woefully inconsistent at the plate and has now fallen below .500 (13-14) after a fourth consecutive loss and fifth in their past six.

And prior to the game, Jays manager John Schneider gave a rather revealing insight into some of the moments the team shared with Ohtani as they were attempting to lure him via free agency.

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Schneider talked about how prepared Ohtani was and “meticulous” in his questions. The $700 million man wanted to know about the Jays facilities and how they would fit his desire to continue his pursuit at being one of the best athletes on the planet.

“It’s pretty easy to see that he wants to be great and win. Those were the things that we caught pretty directly.

“It was more curious questions as to how we operate and what the plan looked like going down the road,” Schneider said. “Resources. The care available. The farm system. Roster plans for the winning part of it. He had a few pretty direct questions.”

While it’s quite possible money (the Dodgers sure behaved like a team that wasn’t going to outbid) was always going to be the leading factor, perhaps Ohtani’s other desires played a more significant role than what has mostly been accepted.

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Ohtani the handicapper ached to go to a team committed to winning, especially after languishing with the Angels for the duration of his North American career previously.

If he looked deeply into the Jays plans, perhaps he didn’t like everything that he saw. Maybe the farm system, once deeper, seemed too sparse. Maybe he didn’t see the Jays being able to spend beyond him, something that was never going to be an issue with the Dodgers.

One miserable night following an exhausting and poorly executed trip through Kansas City isn’t going to apply a verdict to how it unfolded. But there’s no denying Ohtani looks splendid in Dodger blue.

On the other side, the Jays are languishing in the basement of the American League East. On Friday, they were outhit 19-5 by Ohtani’s Dodgers and for the fourth consecutive game the scuffling offence was held to two runs or fewer.

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The Jays offence — that would have been improved mightily with Ohtani in the lineup — has not scored more than five runs in its past 18 games. Or for gruesome perspective, hasn’t been able to match the six the Dodgers put up in the third inning alone on Friday night.

As for the boos, that part was predictable. Jays fans aren’t exactly in a good place right now: Frustrated at seeing the would-be franchise saviour doing damage for an NL powerhouse, frustrated at the form of the current Jays roster and frustrated at a front office that has failed to deliver.

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“I do know that Shohei was probably considering Toronto,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said prior to the first of the three-game weekend series when asked if he anticipated Ohtani being booed. “I’m very good friends with (Jays president) Mark Shapiro and (GM) Ross Atkins and what they do here and it’s a great city. That’s not something he brought on himself, spurning the city, which he didn’t do.”

No, there was a no spurn involved here. Just a decision that made the most money and sense for one of the game’s greats. There was no flight tracker needed for Ohtani on this night — just the tape measure for that 360-foot home run that furthered the Jays fans’ pain.

“Adjustments got to be made,” said a terse Bassitt after lasting just 2.2 innings (his shortest outing as a Jays starter) in which he allowed a season high seven runs and nine hits. “They’ve got a really good lineup.”

One led by you know who.

QUICK HITS

Rare positive for the Jays was Danny Jansen’s first homer of the season, a solo shot in the fourth … The mighty Dodgers have banged out 48 hits in their previous three games … Over his previous eight games against the Jays, Ohtani is batting .448 … Bidding to preserve his bullpen in the blowout, Schneider send out infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa to pitch the ninth, the second time he’s taken to the mound this season.

rlongley@postmedia.com

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