It’s hard to blame Toronto-born rapper Drake for the Blue Jays’ failure to sign Shohei Ohtani, but Canadian baseball fans gave it their best shot on Saturday after MLB’s top free agent agreed to a record $700 million with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Just 24 hours earlier, it looked as though Ohtani might be signing with the Blue Jays. Sources told Mail Sport that Toronto was leading the way for Ohtani’s signature, and other reports similarly claimed he was inclined to join the upstart Blue Jays.
Drake certainly got caught up in the hype on Friday by posting a picture of himself on social media wearing an Ohtani jersey, which Jays fans now see as the first sign of trouble.
‘The Drake curse is undefeated,’ wrote one fan on social media, alluding to the perception that the 37-year-old Grammy winner curses the teams and athletes he supports.
He’s been accused of cursing everyone from the 2016 Golden State Warriors to the 2019 Alabama Crimson Tide football team, and although Drake’s Raptors did win a title that same year, the rapper regularly loses massive bets, including $1 million in last year’s World Cup.
Is the Drake curse real? The Toronto-born rapper appeared in an Ohtani jersey the other day
‘The Drake Curse claims its biggest victim,’ wrote another fan. ‘Ohtani on the Blue Jays.’
There are, of course, other reasons for Jays fans to be disappointed – namely false reports that Ohtani was on his way to Toronto, ostensibly to sign with the team.
With MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reporting that the former Los Angeles Angels star was flying in southern California, Blue Jays fans began tracking private jets in hopes of pinpointing Ohtani’s exact location.
One flight in particular seemed destined to be carrying Ohtani after originating in Anaheim – the city Ohtani played in for the last six years.
But soon thereafter, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale and the New York Post’s Jon Heyman both reported that Ohtani never left his southern California home.
In what must have been a first for both men, Shohei Ohtani was mistaken for Robert Herjavec
Ultimately, CBC photographer Evan Mitsui confirmed that the private plane wasn’t flying Ohtani to Toronto, but rather Canadian businessman and Shark Tank star Robert Herjavec.
The Founder and CEO of global cybersecurity firm Cyderes did have some fun with the confusion by reposting NFL Network’s Rich Eisen’s playful message on Friday evening.
‘To everyone hoping to spot Ohtani,’ read Eisen’s post on X, showing a smiling Herjavec waving to a Shark Tank contestant.
Others poked fun at the situation as well, but none better than Merriam-Webster, which confirmed that Ohtani is ‘not’ in the company’s ‘citation archives.’