The Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays are rumored to be among the teams competing to land Shohei Ohtani in free agency, and this has sparked something of a war of words between the two cities.
Things got started when former MLB player Jerry Hairston Jr. made a sales pitch to Ohtani on why the two-way star should pick the Dodgers. Hairston worked in some attacks on Toronto as part of his pitch, citing Canada’s tax rate, colder weather, and having to “listen to two national anthems” before games.
Mic drop 🎤@TheRealJHair with the sales pitch to Shohei Ohtani. pic.twitter.com/oGUTFt0Bxo
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) December 7, 2023
The good-humored segment made its way to Toronto, where it did not go down well. That prompted an all-time great response from Sid Seixeiro, a co-host of Citytv’s “Breakfast Television” show in Toronto.
.@sid_seixeiro has a very important message for Shohei Ohtani 👀 pic.twitter.com/fsNLAwLKb5
— Breakfast Television (@breakfasttv) December 7, 2023
“Jerry Hairston Jr., first off, he played for nine teams in 16 years,” Seixeiro began. “Nobody wanted him on their team. He played for the Dodgers for two years. I know as much about the Dodgers as Jerry Hairston Jr.”
Seixeiro was not done there. He pointed out that California has the fifth-highest tax rate in the United States, and that Los Angeles has “the worst traffic in the world.” He was dismissive of the weather argument, too.
“Based on what Hollywood has told me, the great earthquake is coming at any point, and you don’t want to be around any part of Los Angeles when that happens,” Seixeiro added.
Now on a roll, Seixeiro concluded by pointing out that the Blue Jays have more World Series titles than the Dodgers do since 1992, and had one final argument to address the national anthem topic.
“Listening to two national anthems is great. You know why? Because you get to hear the American one, then the better one,” Seixeiro concluded.
The chances of this argument having any impact on Ohtani’s final decision are just about zero, but at least some people are having fun with it. Plus, Seixeiro’s rant is definitely one for the ages.
The Dodgers are still viewed as the leaders for Ohtani, though details are few and far between. If anything, their chances may have been jeopardized by acknowledging that they were in the race at all.
