Shohei Ohtani Airplane Joke Is Going Viral Ahead of Dodgers-Blue Jays World Series

A tweet that will forever live in infamy.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani infamously boarded a plane to Toronto in 2023, according to one misinformed MLB source.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani infamously boarded a plane to Toronto in 2023, according to one misinformed MLB source. / Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

The Blue Jays' Game 7 win in the ALCS on Monday night confirmed one thing: Shohei Ohtani is, in fact, headed to Toronto.

The Dodgers will face the Blue Jays in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night in what's expected to be a thrilling postseason battle between the NL and AL champs. On one side, the Dodgers trounced the Brewers in the NLCS and enter the World Series as heavy favorites to claim their second straight title. On the other, the Blue Jays downed the Mariners thanks to George Springer's three-run homer in Game 7 and punched their ticket to their first Fall Classic since 1993.

While both teams are aiming to make some history this October, what's in the past doesn't always stay in the past. Ahead of the Dodgers–Blue Jays series, a notorious tweet from MLB Network's Jon Morosi about Ohtani flying to Toronto during 2023 free agency has recirculated on social media and elicited many (perhaps too many) jokes.

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Before Ohtani signed his then-record-breaking contract with the Dodgers in December '23, the two-way star was linked to the Blue Jays, who were considered very serious contenders in the Ohtani sweepstakes and reportedly went to great lengths to try to recruit him. Ohtani ended up picking the Dodgers, but not before Morosi shared a now-infamous post about Ohtani being "en route to Toronto" that in turn sparked a hilarious bit of plane-tracking chaos.

With Ohtani now actually boarding a plane for Toronto for Game 1 at Rogers Centre, MLB fans couldn't resist making the same joke:


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Kristen Wong
KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. Outside of work, she has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.