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Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers in the offseason between the 2023 and 2024 seasons. The Dodgers won the World Series in his first year and he won the National League MVP. He's likely to win the MVP again this year, while the Dodgers head back to the World Series. 

Standing in the Dodgers' way is the Toronto Blue Jays, a team powered by stars like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer. But remember when Ohtani was almost (maybe) among them?

This was a much much bigger tease job than what we see most of the time when free agents are attached to teams. Sure, there was the normal wine-and-dine atmosphere to the situation. Ohtani visited Dunedin, the Blue Jays' spring training home, and the bidding was serious. People made connections on their own as well, such as the fact that then-Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi and Ohtani attended the same high school in Japan, though that was always thin -- especially since they only overlapped by one year in high school and it's, you know, high school. The roster fit was there, as it was with most teams. The money was there, as it was with a small handful of teams.

This is all to say that the Blue Jays had a realistic shot at landing Ohtani, though most people throughout the process always had the Dodgers as the favorites. So what was the tease?  

The flurry started on Dec. 8, 2023. Word came down that Ohtani's decision was "imminent." Then the internet sleuths did their thing and started tracking flights. There was a private jet leaving the Anaheim area -- remember, Ohtani was with the Angels before the Dodgers and lived in the region -- and flying to Toronto.

The excitement rose. 

Then, a Twitter account claimed that Kikuchi had rented out an "entire upscale sushi restaurant near Rogers Centre" for that night. 

Oh boy. That's the type of thing that sends some people into a frenzy. 

Then there were reports that Ohtani was signing with Toronto, though those were quickly shot down by Blue Jays beat reporters. 

Next came reports that Ohtani was indeed flying to Toronto, even if he hadn't officially made up his mind or signed a deal.

There was a plane headed from the west coast to Toronto, it turned out. Aboard was not Ohtani, but rather Robert Herjavec, a Canadian businessman and panelist on "Shark Tank."

The next day, Ohtani announced he was signing with the Dodgers. 

Blue Jays nation was heartbroken. Not only were the Blue Jays a finalist for the services of a once-in-a-lifetime player -- and that is probably underselling Ohtani -- but it felt tantalizingly close. If Ohtani signing with another team was a gut punch, Jays fans were also punched in the face and groin.

"When we met with him, you felt good about it, and you felt good about the feedback he was giving about our organization and an opportunity here," Blue Jays manager John Schneider said Thursday. "But you never really know what a player's feeling in free agency, and there's a lot of things that have to line up for them personally, too. You can't really think about what if. You think about the 26 that we have.

"He's a great player. I'll say it again, I hope he brought his hat, the Blue Jays hat that he took from us in our meeting, I hope he brought it back finally -- and the jacket for decoy, you know, it's like, give us our stuff back already. But he's a great player. But that aside, I think that we have a great team and just an unbelievable cast of characters and players. I think things worked out the way they're meant to work out."

And now, there's a Dodgers vs. Blue Jays series with Ohtani fresh off an NLCS MVP. The ALCS MVP was Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who earlier this year signed a 14-year, $500 million extension to stay in Toronto. 

Had the Blue Jays had landed Ohtani in free agency and they were headed to the World Series this year, we'd be saying "they don't get here without him." 

But they did. It's a testament to the 2025 Toronto Blue Jays and to how one player doesn't make or break a team in this beautiful sport.