Shohei Ohtani 'didn't understand' brutal chants in Dodgers loss to Blue Jays, Dave Roberts reveals

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts doesn't think Shohei Ohtani understood the brutal chants Blue Jays subjected him to during their loss in Toronto on Friday night.

Upset that he spurned the Blue Jays to sign a $700million contract with Los Angeles in December 2023, home fans chanted 'We don't need you!' when Ohtani came to the plate in Game 1 of the World Series with his team trailing by seven runs.

Fans also booed the two-way Japanese sensation during pregame introductions. He appeared to smile at those jeers, but Roberts doesn't think he caught the late barbs.

Ohtani was booed and met with the same chant - but not from the entire crowd - leading off Game 2, when he flied out to left field. He was 1 for 4 in Saturday's 5-1 victory that evened the Series.

'I don't think he understood the chants,' Roberts said before Game 2. 'As far as being booed, I think that he understands why he was booed. I don't think he minds it. I don't think it necessarily fuels his fire. 

'I've used this word with Shohei a lot: he's just a really good compartmentalizer, so I don't think it really affects him, and he's just there to just do his job.'

Roberts later said Ohtani was too focused on batting to pay attention to the chants in the ninth.

'He was hitting and it was muddled,' he added. 'I heard it, but I wasn't hitting. My point being is that I understand he understands the language, but he's still hitting in the box. I don´t think his focus was on a chant.'

Ohtani hit his first World Series homer Friday but also grounded out with the bases loaded in the second inning. His lone hit was the soaring two-run shot to right field off Braydon Fisher in the seventh, but it came with LA trailing 11-2.

The Dodgers superstar faced four different pitchers, two right-handers and two left-handers, in his five plate appearances. He finished 1 for 4 with a walk and struck out twice.

'That's what we're trying to do,' Blue Jays manager John Schneider said of the different looks. 'It's a seven-game series. You never know how it unfolds, but I'm sure at some point there'll be some familiarity.'

As MLB commissioner Rob Manfred noted on the field before Game 2, Ohtani has sparked record viewership in Japan by helping the Dodgers reach the Series in consecutive years.

'Shohei, it just absolutely has been the greatest benefit to the game that you can imagine throughout the year,' Manfred said. 'In the LCS he had probably the greatest game of all time and we´re fortunate to have him here in the World Series.'