Following Shohei Ohtani’s signing with the Dodgers, the Drake Curse continues.
All indications pointed to Shohei Ohtani signing with the Toronto Blue Jays and ending his free agency on Friday, as rumors started to circulate.
One sign, however, did point in the other direction, and it was Drake’s fault.
The Grammy Award-winning rapper is notorious for having bad luck in the sports world, so wearing a Roy Hirotani jersey from this year’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game and sharing a photo of it on Instagram story didn’t help him or his fellow Toronto natives.
Less than twenty-four hours later, Ohtani shocked professional athletes in all sports by reportedly signing a seven hundred million dollar, 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, indicating that he would remain in California.
Given his history of hating sports teams—from the historic 2016 Golden State Warriors to the 2019 Alabama football team—Blue Jays supporters may blame Drake for the way the Ohtani sweepstakes transpired, but he cannot be the only explanation for Toronto’s failure to land the two-way sensation.
Though Heyman stated that Ohtani’s decision was primarily influenced by geography and a winning culture, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman did list the Blue Jays as one of the finalist teams for Ohtani, along with a few other teams.
Thus, unless they attempt to make another significant move in free agency, the Blue Jays are now depending on the same core that has consistently underperformed over the previous few seasons, rather than seeing their chances of winning the World Series drastically improve.
In the event that the Blue Jays attempt to pursue a major free agent once more, they may wish to conceal the information so Drake is unaware of it.
