What if Ohtani WAS on that plane to Toronto? Inside an alternate World Series universe

When the 2025 World Series starts Friday nighttime successful Toronto, Shohei Ohtani volition measurement to the sheet for the archetypal at-bat of the Fall Classic wearing the Los Angeles Dodgers azygous we've each go accustomed to seeing him successful implicit the past 2 MLB seasons.

But determination is different world, 1 not arsenic far-fetched arsenic you mightiness think, wherever Ohtani could alternatively beryllium toeing the rubber for Game 1 -- and coming up to bat successful the bottommost of the archetypal inning -- for the Toronto Blue Jays instead.

Similarly, Roki Sasaki has changed Los Angeles' postseason by emerging arsenic the flamethrowing person the Dodgers desperately needed to solidify a shaky bullpen this month. But successful different world, besides not that acold removed, Sasaki could beryllium playing the portion of rookie sensation for the Blue Jays alternatively of facing them with games connected the line.

How adjacent were Ohtani and Sasaki to picking the Blue Jays implicit the Dodgers arsenic their much-hyped escaped cause decisions played out? How did the 2 tense determination days -- 1 that turned the full net into planetary formation trackers -- spell down? How bully would the Blue Jays person been the past 2 seasons with Ohtani connected their roster? And what would the Dodgers person done to antagonistic if they had mislaid retired connected baseball's two-way superstar?

Let's excavation in.

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Ohtani timeline | Sasaki timeline | Jays with Ohtani | Dodgers' Plan B?

Timeline of the Ohtani, Blue Jays woody that ne'er happened

The jokes are present everywhere: Hey, Shohei Ohtani is yet getting connected a level to Toronto. The Dodgers really played successful Toronto successful April 2024, but we get it: There was that frenzied Friday successful December 2023 erstwhile everybody thought Ohtani was connected a level headed to Toronto to motion with the Blue Jays.

What happened that day, Friday, Dec. 8? First, a idiosyncratic connected a societal media tract posted that Thursday evening that a backstage pitchy -- process fig N616RH -- was scheduled to alert from Southern California to Toronto connected Friday morning. Somebody other discovered the aforesaid pitchy had been successful Oakland erstwhile Ohtani had met with the San Francisco Giants. A shot writer pointed retired that Ohtani's determination to motion with the Angels six years earlier had travel connected ... Dec. 8.

It was each adding up. The Dodgers Nation instrumentality tract published a study saying Ohtani had chosen the Blue Jays. Then MLB Network reported that Ohtani was traveling to Toronto. With N616RH successful the air, fans began assembling astatine the backstage terminal astatine Toronto's Pearson Airport.

But it wasn't Ohtani connected the plane. It was "Shark Tank" justice Robert Herjavec. On Saturda...