When the Toronto Blue Jays missed out on Shohei Ohtani in heartbreaking fashion, there were as many sad fans as there were ones that groaned. "Oh great, the Dodgers found a way to buy even more wins", was a popular one thrown around on social media.
To many, Ohtani's signing in Los Angeles is seen as another example of "the bad guy winning" once again in sports.
According to MLB insider Jon Heyman, the pairing of Ohtani and the Dodgers is good for baseball. In fact, it would've been 'bad for baseball' if the Blue Jays were able to sign the two-way superstar. Yes, you read that right.
"No offense to the Toronto Blue Jays, rumored in the final days to be making progress, but this is much better for Major League Baseball. I know I will be accused of being an American but the Dodgers are a storied franchise, the franchise of Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax and Vin Scully. Baseball will be better for it", Heyman writes in a recent piece.
He goes on to say that he doesn't feel that the Blue Jays ever really had a chance, even though that has already been proven to be incorrect. According to multiple national reporters, including Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet, the Jays were competitive and seen as a fit for Ohtani until the very end.
Heyman continues to say that Toronto is a beautiful city, but "there's a small-time feel to the place", which is once again a comment made in poor taste. Our friends over at Blue Jays Today shared the following post on X that shows that the city of Toronto is the fourth-most populated city in North America. Try again, Jon.
The next time an MLB analyst craps all over Toronto for giving a ‘small-time feel’ maybe take a look at the population in North American cities
— Blue Jays Today (@TodayJays) December 11, 2023
The itty bitty insignificant Toronto sure as hell looks pretty big to me @JonHeyman pic.twitter.com/a7UPL0Hawk
Of course, Heyman's odd rant leaning against the Blue Jays did not go over well on social media. Virtually nobody ever states that Toronto is a "small market" or that Ohtani's signing north of the border would've been bad for baseball. This feels more like a national MLB writer rooting for the richest team in the game than anything else, and it's embarrassing.
"So at least we will now be able to continue to follow his career." You couldn't have done that if he was playing in Toronto? What an utterly ridiculous sentiment. You national writers are really having quite the weekend for outing yourselves as complete dipshits.
— Jenn Smith (@Baseball_Jenn) December 11, 2023
I’m not upset I’m just disappointed @JonHeyman. This is the type of mindset that on top of being illogical, holds baseball back not brings it forward. Every other league is trying to diversify markets and grow internationally. The future of the sport depends on it. pic.twitter.com/ZZreKTKqZz
— Donnovan Bennett (@donnovanbennett) December 11, 2023
At least we have Kevin Gausman to stand up for what's right.
I hate seeing people talk shit about Toronto like they know it. If you live in Toronto you know how special of a place it is and how passionate the people are #GeauxCanada #GeauxBlueJays 🇨🇦🇨🇦
— Kevin Gausman (@KevinGausman) December 11, 2023
Heyman's off-base comments continue a bad week or so for MLB writers.
- Jon Morosi is the one that incorrectly reported Ohtani was on a plane heading to Toronto.
- JP Hoornstra of Dodgers Nation is the one that "broke the news" that Ohtani had chosen the Blue Jays as his next team.
- Shi Davidi wrote a scathing piece over the weekend talking down on fans for listening to irreputable sources on the internet, even though one of them (Morosi) regularly appears on Sportsnet, and Morosi's tweet about Ohtani was retweeted by Sportsnet themselves.
Fans have every right to be annoyed. It's been a dark time for baseball writers everywhere with seemingly no end in sight.