Shohei Ohtani responds to Toronto boos, local Hall of Fame ban with emphatic showing

Dec. 8 is a day that will live in infamy for both Blue Jays fans and MLB insider Jon Morosi. At around 1 PM PDT on an otherwise unassuming Friday, Morosi tweeted that Shohei Ohtani, yet to make a decision that would end his free agency, was on a plane to Toronto to meet with Blue Jays brass.

Ohtani had reportedly already visited Toronto as well as the team's spring training complex in Dunedin, and his entire decision-making process had been so shrouded in secrecy that the teams left in the race had no real idea where they stood, and were waiting for Ohtani to announce his choice just like everyone else.

So no one but Ohtani and agent Nez Balelo actually knew what was going on when Morosi hit 'send' on that tweet. But Ohtani was not on a private plane to Toronto; Ohtani was at home in California. The next day, he announced his intention to sign with the Dodgers.

It wasn't Ohtani's fault, really — the whole situation was a result of some truly embarrassing journalistic malpractice — but that didn't stop Blue Jays fans from raining boos down on him during his first game at the Rogers Centre, and didn't stop the Hockey Hall of Fame from instituting what seems like a lifetime ban on him from the facility. He responded the only way he could: with a home run off a slider just barely in the zone in his first at-bat against the Jays.

Shohei Ohtani shoots back at booing, bitter Blue Jays fans with home run, hardest hit ball of his career with Dodgers

Ohtani's homer was just one of 12 runs that the Dodgers would go on to score against the Blue Jays on Friday night; he went on to walk in the third and then come around to score LA's third run on a Will Smith single. The next day, he stepped up in the top of the second and blasted a single to right field to score Andy Pages and put the Dodgers up 3-0.

That wasn't all, though — just days after he broke the Dodgers record for hardest-hit ball in the Statcast era (since 2015) with a 118.7 MPH home run against the Nationals, Saturday's RBI single against the Blue Jays topped it once again, at 119.2 MPH.

Blue Jays fans can't really be blamed for being bitter — Dodgers fans surely would've boo'ed Ohtani in his first visit to Chavez Ravine if he'd also skirted LA — but if they're going to boo Ohtani, who's on pace to hit 50 home runs, then they also can't complain when they get bitten for it.