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Dave Roberts's Hilarious Prank on Shohei Ohtani Gained the Approval of Decoy the Dog

The Dodgers appear relaxed ahead of the 2025 season.

Patrick Andres

Shohei Ohtani and Dave Roberts after the Dodgers' 9–0 win over the Braves on Sept. 16, 2024.
Shohei Ohtani and Dave Roberts after the Dodgers' 9–0 win over the Braves on Sept. 16, 2024. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images
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If the Los Angeles Dodgers seem looser than usual this spring training—well, a World Series title like the one they won in 2024 will do that.

Exhibit A: the ongoing prank war between designated hitter and pitcher Shohei Ohtani and manager Dave Roberts. After Ohtani pranked Roberts by gifting him a toy Porsche in '24, Roberts got his revenge Friday by filling his car with plastic balls.

Ohtani posted video to Instagram Saturday morning of his dog, Decoy, playing with the balls—with the caption, "Thank you, Doc (Roberts's nickname)."

The Dodgers also posted video of Ohtani discovering the prank for the first time.

"What did you think?" the Los Angeles staffer taking the video asked Ohtani.

"I don't know, a little troublesome," he laughed.

Ohtani was a little troublesome for his old team—the Los Angeles Angels—Friday. The three-time MVP went yard in his first spring training at-bat in his team's 6–5 exhibition win.

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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .

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