Shohei Ohtani's hilarious move helped Dodgers fans leave with mental edge over Padres

Shohei Ohtani is the physical embodiment of Theodore Roosevelt’s "Speak softly and carry a big stick" quote. We don’t hear from him much, but he goes out every day and mashes home run after home run against seemingly every pitcher he face. 

But on Sunday, Ohtani broke from his usual stoic self when he took a second to celebrate his home run against the Padres by … dapping up a heckler who had been sitting next to the Dodgers’ dugout all game. 

Normally, every Ohtani home run features a bevy of celebrations between him and his teammates in the Dodgers dugout. And while those still happened after Ohtani’s monster home run against the Padres, he threw in a new wrinkle by including a Padres fan in the celebration. 

Shohei Ohtani's hilarious move helped Dodgers fans exit SD with mental edge over Padres

Ohtani’s decision to dap up the heckler just adds another layer to the Dodgers' overall dominance over the Padres. While Ohtani has only hit .184 against them this year, this played a nice role in LA maintaining the mental edge.

And that change in personality was noted by everyone else in the Dodgers’ dugout. 

"Very annoying, as he’s in my right ear the entire game," Roberts said after the game per MLB.com’s Sonja Chen. "But it was out of character from Shohei. He was wearing him out the whole game. So it was good to see Shohei initiate a high-five from him. That was great. That was fun. It was good for Shohei to show his personality."

The home run was also the extra cherry on top for the Dodgers in their 8-2 beatdown of the Padres that pushed them back into first place in the cutthroat National League West. Both teams are tied with records of 74-57.

After dropping the first two games of the series against the Padres due to some offensive struggles, they picked up some big hits late against Nick Pivetta and the Padres’ bullpen. The Dodgers finished the game with four home runs as a team — two by Freddie Freeman, one by Dalton Rushing and Ohtani’s majestic blast. 

While there’s no denying the Dodgers’ recent struggles have been incredibly frustrating (especially after they started the season so strong), games like Sunday are a firm reminder of how good this team can be when they’re on, and how they can always get the upper hand at any given moment.

And that starts with Ohtani, who now has slugged a National League-leading 45 home runs while also beginning to find his form as a pitcher. 

And, if the postseason picture breaks the way we think they will, Sunday likely won’t be the last time he has some kind of signature moment against the Padres.