Sports
Shaikin: Blue Jays waited too long to walk Shohei Ohtani. Will it cost them a title?
For all the times the Toronto Blue Jays walked Shohei Ohtani, they lost Game 3 of the World Series because of the one time they did not walk him.
They learned their lesson, four times over.
Here’s another Babe Ruth comparison: Ruth played in 41 World Series games. He was intentionally walked twice.
On Monday, in one World Series game, Ohtani was intentionally walked four times.
The situation called for it — no, begged for it — in the seventh inning. The Blue Jays led, 5-4, with one out and the bases empty. Ohtani already had batted three times, with two doubles and a home run.
On a night they would eventually use four pinch-runners, they already had removed two of their four most potent bats in George Springer and Bo Bichette. They needed to win in regulation, and they were eight outs away. As Ohtani stepped to the mound, the Jays held a conference on the mound.
There really wasn’t much to discuss. Their pitcher, Seranthony Domínguez, had held right-handers to a .132 batting average and .451 OPS this season — and left-handers to a .277 average and .816 OPS.
Mookie Betts, who bats right-handed, was on deck. Freddie Freeman, who bats left-handed, would have followed Betts, but he did not have three extra-base hits already.
The Blue Jays did not issue the obvious intentional walk to Ohtani.
“We’re trying to pitch around him,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “You trust Seranthony to make pitches to do that. Sometimes for pitchers it’s hard to do that when you’re kind of trying to throw a ball and didn’t put it where you want to put it.”
To recap: We’re not trying to throw him a strike, but we’re not going to walk him intentionally.
Sure, he might chase a pitch and strike out or make weak contact. But, if you pitch to Ohtani, you might miss your pitch and, if he’s swinging, he might hit a home run.
Domínguez missed, right down the middle. Ohtani’s home run tied the score 5-5.
“After that,” Schneider said, “you just kind of take the bat out of his hands.”
The Blue Jays intentionally walked Ohtani in each of his next four plate appearances, three times with the bases empty and once with a runner on third base.
Shohei Ohtani looks at home plate umpire Mark Wegner as he is intentionally walked in the 13th inning of Game 3 of the World Series against the Blue Jays on Monday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Too late. The Blue Jays and their increasingly patchwork lineup played another 11 innings, without scoring. The Dodgers won in 18 innings, 6-5, and they can close within one victory of the World Series championship on Tuesday.
In all, Ohtani reached base nine times, setting a postseason record. He became the first player in postseason history with multiple home runs, doubles and walks in the same game. And not since Frank Isbell of the 1906 Chicago White Sox had a player put up four extra-base hits in a World Series game.
Ruth had Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig batting behind him, but the two guys batting behind Ohtani could wind up Hall of Famers too: eight-time All-Star Mookie Betts and nine-time All-Star Freddie Freeman, each a former most valuable player.
“There’s certain times where I feel like, you feel like, you feel better about someone else beating you,” Schneider said. “If that someone else is Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman, it still stings.”
Freeman hit the walk-off home run. Schneider said he would continue to walk Ohtani.
He has no choice. Balls fly in warm weather at Dodger Stadium. The marine layer knocked down several potential home runs Monday, but a heat advisory has been issued for Southern California on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the game-time temperature predicted at 87 degrees Tuesday and potentially a little warmer Wednesday.
“I get it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s the best player on the planet, and he was on the heels of a huge offensive night, and John smelled that and wasn’t going to let Shohei beat him at all, obviously, and even when nobody’s on base and putting him on to make the other guys beat him.”
Highlights from the Dodgers’ 6-5 win in 18 innings over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 3 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium.
Technically, one of the other guys beat the Blue Jays on Monday. But Freeman would not have had the opportunity to beat them in the 18th inning had the Blue Jays won in nine innings, which they would have had Ohtani not hit that home run in the seventh.
Only after that did the walk-a-thon commence.
“When you’re that hot and you’re hitting balls right-center, left-center like Shohei was tonight, you just knew he was feeling good. So that’s the right move,” Freeman said. “You don’t want Shohei to beat you, and you let other guys try and beat you after his first four at-bats. It took a lot longer, but we finally did it.”
The Angels adopted that strategy in the 2002 World Series. They walked Barry Bonds 13 times in the seven-game series, including three intentional walks in the first five innings of Game 4.
Is Ohtani in line for the full Bonds treatment?
“I think it’s all relative,” said Roberts, a teammate of Bonds with the San Francisco Giants.
“Barry’s the greatest hitter I’ve ever seen, but in this day and age there’s just him or maybe (Aaron) Judge. We’re just fortunate we have Mookie and Freddie behind him. But you just don’t see that type of behavior from opposing managers, and that’s just the ultimate sign of respect.”
Benito Santiago, a five-time All-Star, batted behind Bonds in 2002. No disrespect intended, but Betts and Freeman are more complete offensive threats.
Monday marked the 23rd anniversary of the Angels’ lone World Series championship, won in some measure because they did not let Bonds beat them. The Blue Jays have decided they won’t let Ohtani beat them, but that decision might have come too late.
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Legendary rapper Jay-Z came out in defense of Bad Bunny amid controversy over the Puerto Rican recording artist being tapped to perform at the Super Bowl LX halftime show.
Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation co-produces the halftime show for the NFL and reportedly makes the final decision on the headline each year. This year, the selection of Bad Bunny has drawn pushback from fans.
Bad Bunny performs on the Coachella Stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, Friday, April 21, 2023. (Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK)
But Jay-Z wasn’t buying the outrage.
“They love him. Don’t let them fool you,” he told TMZ Sports on Monday night.
Jay-Z didn’t go too much further, telling the TMZ reporter that he “ain’t got no scoops for you.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell defended the selection of Bad Bunny, despite the Grammy Award winner’s comments about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the last year.
“It’s carefully thought through,” Goodell said of the decision-making process for the halftime show. “I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback or criticism. It’s pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching.”
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Bad Bunny, whose birth name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has caught flak from President Donald Trump and his supporters given his public comments about the president and his administration. The 31-year-old expressed fears about ICE, which is why he decided to do a residency in his native Puerto Rico to avoid stops in the United States.
He said last month he didn’t book any U.S. dates on his tour over fears his fans would be detained by ICE agents.
“But there was the issue of, like, f—ing ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about,” he told i-D.
Bad Bunny also recorded and posted video of what he described as local ICE raids to social media in Puerto Rico.
“Look, those motherf——s are in these cars, RAV-4s. They’re here in Pontezuela,” he said in Spanish, mentioning ICE working on the Avenida Pontezuela in Carolina, a city east of Puerto Rico’s capital, San Juan.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell looks on during a press conference at Caesars Superdome on February 03, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana ahead of the NFL Super Bowl LIX football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. (Michael Owens/Getty Images)
Some NFL fans had an issue not only with those comments, but with his hit songs all being sung in Spanish. But Goodell has no qualms with the show he’s expecting from Bad Bunny.
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“We’re confident it’s going to be a great show,” Goodell said. “He understands the platform that he’s on, and I think it’s going to be exciting and a united moment.”
Fox News’ Scott Thompson contributed to this report.
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Sports
Brian Kelly’s buyout after LSU firing set to rival James Franklin’s $49M payout from Penn State
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It was just last week when Penn State fired head coach James Franklin after a third straight loss, leading to a $49 million buyout by the Nittany Lions to let him get out of his contract.
At the time, it seemed wild that a university would be willing to shell out that much money, but the potential buyout for former LSU head coach Brian Kelly could rival Franklin’s.
After the Tigers made the decision Sunday night to fire Kelly, less than 24 hours after LSU fell to Texas A&M 49-25 for its third loss in the last four games, both sides are still negotiating the financial terms of the split.
LSU head coach Brian Kelly stands on the sideline during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Vanderbilt, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Kelly was in his fourth year of a 10-year, $100 million deal with LSU, which he signed after leaving Notre Dame. Kelly had $95 million in salary on that deal and 90% of it was guaranteed money.
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Kelly and LSU athletic director Scott Woodward reportedly had a tense meeting on Sunday morning, according to The Athletic. And during that meeting, Kelly’s $54 million buyout in his contract was brought up.
There was also a coaching confrontation, as Woodward reportedly wanted to make changes to Kelly’s staff, which included axing offensive coordinator Joe Sloan. However, Kelly allegedly pushed back, saying he would rather make other moves on his staff.
LSU head coach Brian Kelly yells to an official during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Vanderbilt, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
This situation has even reached the highest level of state government, as Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry reportedly met with the LSU Board of Supervisors about Kelly’s firing on Sunday night.
The loss to Texas A&M was the last straw for many LSU fans, who were heard chanting “Fire Kelly” at Tiger Stadium on Saturday during the loss. Kelly was asked about that possibility after the loss, which put them at 5-3 on the year and 2-3 in SEC play.
“It’s impossible for the head coach that’s been here for four years and 35 years of doing this, to think anything [but keep coaching],” he said, via the New York Post. “That’s not my decision in terms of whether I’m here or not, but that’s what I will do.”
LSU head coach Brian Kelly speaking at Omni Dallas Hotel on July 15, 2024. (Brett Patzke-USA TODAY Sports)
Kelly went 34-14 during his tenure with the Tigers.
“When Coach Kelly arrived at LSU four years ago, we had high hopes that he would lead us to multiple SEC and national championships during his time in Baton Rouge,” Woodward said as part of a statement. “Ultimately, the success at the level that LSU demands simply did not materialize, and I made the decision to make a change after last night’s game.”
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The City Section used to produce lots of top running backs, from Charles White at San Fernando to Milton Knox at Birmingham. This season, Ceasar Reyes of Garfield set a school record with 420 yards rushing in a game and Darnell Miller of Santee set a City Section record with 502 yards rushing against Jefferson.
The talent level has dropped considerably at all positions, but this is a season quarterbacks are firing away and producing big numbers. It’s going to make for quite a competition to be an All-City quarterback.
The likely Open Division playoff quarterbacks are all having outstanding seasons: Chris Fields of Carson, Seth Osorio of San Pedro, Jack Thomas of Palisades, Liam Pasten of Eagle Rock, Kevin Hawkins of Birmingham and Diego Montes of Kennedy. Junior quarterback Bennett Dome of Venice had made major progress until an injury sidelined him on Friday.
Freshman Thaddeus Breaux of Hamilton has passed for 2,551 yards and 26 touchdowns. Michael Gonzalez, a junior at South Gate, is a two-way threat. Last week against Huntington Park, he passed for 305 yards and five touchdowns and ran for 131 yards and one touchdown.
All these competent quarterbacks mean when the playoffs begin in two weeks, no game is necessarily over because they are capable of running a two-minute drill to perfection and turning defeat into victory.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
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