John Schneider Hilariously Urges Shohei Ohtani to Give Back Blue Jays Stuff Ahead of 2025 World Series Matchup

Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers will take on John Schneider's Toronto Blue Jays in the 2025 World Series.

John Schneider Hilariously Urges Shohei Ohtani to Give Back Blue Jays Stuff Ahead of 2025 World Series Matchup

John Schneider and Shohei Ohtani (Image via MLB)

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This Friday, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers will kick off the 2025 World Series. Ahead of this matchup, Blue Jays manager John Schneider would poke some fun at two-way star Shohei Ohtani and urged him to give back their stuff, which he took from them.

After the 2023 season, Ohtani became a free agent. The Blue Jays were one of the teams who were in the race for him and were willing to break their bank to land his signature. Ohtani and his camp would meet with the Blue Jays’ organization and discuss about signing with them.

In the end, he picked the Dodgers. The Japanese international penned down a 10-year, $700 million deal, making it one of the biggest contracts in MLB history. For the Blue Jays, it was another top name which they failed to land.

Ahead of their meeting with him and his team, manager John Schneider was asked about the team chances of landing him two years ago. The Blue Jays skipper expressed that they received positive feedback from him but later claimed that there are several things going through a player’s mind during the free agency.

He would then go on to make a joke about him. He would hilariously urge him to give back the Blue Jays hat and a jacket that he took for his dog, Decoy after their meeting.

I’ll say it again. I hope he brought his hat. The Blue Jays hat that he took from us in our meeting. I hope he brought it back. finally. And the jacket for (his dog) Decoy. You know, it’s like ‘give us our stuff back already.

John Schneider told the reporters

The free agency saga of Ohtani did leave some fans upset. The fans were left hyped after a tweet from MLB insider Jon Morosi claimed that Ohtani was on a plane to Toronto. He would later clarify his mistake and apologize for his error.

During his first visit to Toronto as a Dodger star in 2024, Ohtani was booed by the fans at Rogers Centre. He would respond to this reaction with a home run in his first at-bat.

This World Series meeting will be the first meeting between this two sides in Toronto this year. The lone series between them in the 2025 regular season took place at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Blue Jays emerged as 2-1 winners of a three-game set.

Shohei Ohtani responds to John Schneider’s request before World Series meeting

Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers are gearing up for their 2nd straight World Series. Before the 2025 Fall Classic, John Schneider would make a hilarious request to Ohtani. The 31-year-old would later respond to this.

Shohei Ohtani
Shohei Ohtani (Image via Imago)

Ohtani would speak with the reporters through his interpreter on Friday. When one of them brought up the comments of Schneider and asked him about the hat, he would break into a smile and claimed that he still had that gear in his garage.

It’s in my garage.

Shohei Ohtani said as per TSN

He would later praise the Blue Jays organization. The 3-time MLB MVP called them a top class organization and expressed that he had a wonderful time while getting to know them.

I really had a wonderful time getting to know them as an entire organization, and the impression I got is like, they’re very top class.

Shohei Ohtani added

Ohtani has a good record against the Blue Jays in the past. In 121 career at-bats against them, he has a slash line of .314/.435/.719 with 11 home runs and 27 RBIs. Form is also on his side going into the World Series.

After an offensive slump in the National League Division Series (NLDS), Ohtani stole the show in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series (NLCS) against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The designated hitter (DH)/pitcher slugged 3 home runs in Game 4. On top of that, he threw 6 scoreless innings and picked up 10 strikeouts from the mound. His impressive performance led the Dodgers to a 5-1 win and saw them sweep the Brewers 4-0.

There is some history that is on the side of the Blue Jays. Since the LCS became a best-of-seven series in 1985, this will be the fifth World Series where one team swept their opponents in the LCS, while the other had to dig deep and win Game 7 to reach this stage. In the previous four instances (2012, 2007, 2006, and 1988), teams that have won Game 7 have gone on to win the World Series.

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