{"id":243299,"date":"2025-10-27T11:08:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T11:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/243299\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T11:08:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T11:08:07","slug":"ohtani-responds-to-blue-jays-fans-we-dont-need-you-taunts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/243299\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohtani responds to Blue Jays fans’ ‘we don’t need you’ taunts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani knew what Toronto Blue Jays fans were chanting in Game 1 at the Rogers Centre, and he\u2019s taking it all in stride.<\/p>\n

The Toronto faithful, still mindful of his free-agency decision two winters ago, made their feelings clear with chants of \u201cWe don\u2019t need you!\u201d each time he stepped to the plate.<\/p>\n

Ohtani, however, smiled. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a really great chant, and my wife really appreciated it,\u201d he said with a grin<\/a>, speaking through interpreter Will Ireton.<\/p>\n

Toronto was among the most aggressive suitors for Ohtani before he ultimately signed a 10-year contract with the Dodgers. That history gave the home crowd plenty of fuel, and they wasted no time unleashing it. <\/p>\n

The chants first rang out in the ninth inning of Game 1, when Ohtani drew a walk against reliever Eric Lauer before Mookie Betts struck out to end the contest. The jeers returned during his first at-bat in Game 2.<\/p>\n

Fans also greeted Ohtani with a chorus of boos during pregame introductions on Friday night. Television cameras caught the two-way superstar laughing as the noise cascaded down from the stands.<\/p>\n

If the intent was to rattle him, it didn\u2019t work. Ohtani launched his first career World Series home run in Game 1, a bright spot in an otherwise lopsided 11-4 loss for Los Angeles. In Game 2, he went 1-for-4 with a run scored as the Dodgers bounced back with a 5-1 victory<\/a> to even the series at one game apiece.<\/p>\n

With the series now shifting to Los Angeles for three games, the Blue Jays must contain Ohtani\u2019s potent bat but also solve him on the mound. The 31-year-old is expected to make his long-awaited World Series pitching debut. It will be his first start since his historic outing in the National League Championship Series, where he delivered a pennant-clinching performance to eliminate the Milwaukee Brewers in four games.<\/p>\n

For Toronto fans, the chants may have been cathartic. For Ohtani, they were little more than background noise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani knew what Toronto Blue Jays fans were chanting in Game 1 at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-243299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}