The World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers was already tense before Game 2 began. Every time Shohei Ohtani stepped to the plate,Rogers Centre erupted with boos. Toronto fans have not forgotten his decision last winter to take a record-setting $700 million contract with the Dodgers instead of joining their team.
By the third inning, that resentment had new fuel. Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto lost control of a pitch that hit George Springer on the elbow. The crowd gasped, Springer took his base, and the stadium’s atmosphere shifted from anticipation to outrage. Within moments, social media flooded with reactions calling for “payback.”
Ohtani, sitting calmly in the dugout, suddenly became the symbol of every slight Toronto fans have felt since his free-agent decision.
Fan frustration turns into fire
After Springer reached first, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lined a single that moved him to third. Moments later, Alejandro Kirk lifted a sacrifice fly to deep left, bringing Springer home and tying the game at 1-1. It was a small but meaningful rally. Yet the mood inside Rogers Centre felt far from celebratory.
Videos posted on X showed fans shouting things like “Eye for an eye!” and “Drill Ohtani next!” Their anger was raw, theatrical, and oddly unifying. The pitch had come from Yamamoto, not Ohtani, but that detail hardly mattered. In a stadium full of pent-up emotion, logic gave way to passion.
Shohei Ohtani hate: A rivalry fueled by rejection
Toronto’s frustration with Ohtani stretches far beyond a single at-bat. For months, fans believed he might choose their city as his next home. Instead, he became the centerpiece of a Dodgers team now standing in the way of their World Series dream.
Online, the reaction took on a mix of humor and hostility. One fan wrote on Reddit, “Wouldn’t it be a shame if Ohtani just happened to get in the way of a pitch?” Dozens of similar comments echoed that sentiment across platforms. What began as frustration had turned into a collective obsession with revenge.
Meanwhile, Yamamoto settled in after the shaky start and delivered a brilliant complete-game performance that helped Los Angeles even the series. Springer’s run mattered, but it was the fans who stole the night’s headlines.
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