Why Shohei Ohtani’s fans in Canada and beyond say he’s ‘bigger than baseball’

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ defence was crumbling against the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1 of the World Series, and pressure was mounting on L.A. players as the game got closer to the end.

The boos that started raining down on Shohei Ohtani from the moment he ran onto the field became louder, and then evolved to taunts and chants of “We don’t need you!” – a reference to his decision in 2023 to sign with the Dodgers instead of Blue Jays during free agency.

But throughout that disastrous first game for his team, the Japanese superstar kept a smile on his face, putting his cheerful attitude and sportsmanship on full display at the sold-out Rogers Centre Friday night, even as the Jays crushed the Dodgers with a final score of 11-4.

Many consider Ohtani to be the best baseball player ever, but his fans say his down-to-earth, humble personality and a great sense of humour distinguish him from other sports celebrities.

“He is (a) very unique person,” said Matthew Rodriguez, a Dodgers supporter who came to Toronto from New Jersey for Game 1. “I think his character is unmatched, the humbleness, the respect that he has for other people, but then also the baseball player that he is.”

Rodriguez said he follows the Dodgers and his favourite player wherever they go.

“We try to see Ohtani whenever he’s around. We try to make an effort to go and see him whenever,” he said.

Jeremiah Madayag, an Ohtani and Dodgers fan who was born and raised in Toronto, said while he loves the Blue Jays, he believes Ohtani is “bigger than baseball.”

He said he travelled all the way to Japan in the spring to watch him play in the Tokyo Series, calling the experience “incredible.”

“Ohtani has been like a big inspiration,” Madayag said amid deafening cheers at the Rogers Centre.

“He’s one of a kind. I can’t say anything else,” he said, adding that Ohtani is someone who Asian kids can look up to and he hopes the athlete will be a model for his own future children.

Even though Ohtani’s home run in Game 1 wasn’t enough against the Jays’ offence, the Dodgers rallied to win Saturday’s Game 2 in Toronto and Monday’s Game 3 at their home stadium in L.A., taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven matchup.

Ohtani had a historic performance Monday as he homered twice and tied a 119-year-old major-league record with four extra-base hits, putting on yet another impressive post-season show.

After his four-hit barrage in the first seven innings, Ohtani drew five consecutive walks in an epic 18-inning World Series game, making him the first major-leaguer in 83 years to reach base nine times in any game, let alone the post-season.

Before that, he took the chants directed at him in Toronto in stride.

“It was a really great chant, and my wife really appreciated it,” he said with a smile through a translator following the Dodgers’ workout on Sunday.

Toronto is home to many Ohtani fans, but few might match the enthusiasm of David Pollard, a former teacher who formed a fan club in hopes of encouraging the player to move to Toronto when the Jays first attempted to recruit him in 2018.

Pollard said he continued to run the Ohtani Canada Instagram account even though Ohtani chose another L.A. team at the time, the Los Angeles Angels, over the Jays. The account, which posts updates about the superstar, has more than 61,000 followers.

“If we had just Ohtani Canada fans, we would fill the stadium and not have enough room for everyone. It’s pretty phenomenal,” he said in a phone interview. “Why are we the fastest growing fan clubs? It’s because we focus on the goodness of the man and whenever we see it, we post it.”

Pollard said he has met Ohtani twice. He once gave him a pair of Canadian mittens, and the second time they acknowledged each other in passing, he said.

“He is a humble celebrity in the modern world,” he said of the player.

Pollard, a faculty adviser at the private Tyndale University, said he and members of the fan club who are mostly educators are now using Ohtani as an example when they teach kids about the importance of character.

“We looked at Ohtani and thought, ‘Wow, we’ve been handed this gift. This man is all about character,” he said.

That character and endurance is what kept Dodgers supporters confident at the beginning of the World Series.

“The great ones show up when they need to,” Dodgers fan Shane Murdoch said as his friends trolled him with chants of “Daaaa Dodgers lose” at the end of Game 1.

Jessie Brodhagen, who came to the game from Arizona with his father-in-law, said he has been an Ohtani fan since he played for the Los Angeles Angels.

“He’s just an all-around ballplayer, hard worker, puts everything into it and he’s the best in baseball,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2025.

–With files from The Associated Press

Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press