Toronto Blue Jays didn't make it placed in the World Series against Dodgers followed by a flood of memes, posts, and tweets, all containing some version of this line: Finally, Shohei Ohtani was on his way to Toronto.
On a December day two years ago, as Ohtani was traveling through free agency, three reports surfaced: a private jet was flying from Orange County to Toronto (true); Ohtani decided to sign with the Blue Jays (false); and Ohtani was on a flight to Toronto (LIE).
When the plane landed surrounded by reporters, photographers and even a news helicopter, the entire country fell into despair. The gentleman on the plane was not Ohtani.
He was Robert Herjavec“Shark Tank” star and prominent Canadian businessman with homes in Toronto and Southern California.
“My only claim to fame in the sports world is being mistaken for someone else,” Herjavec said Tuesday.
Herjavec said he hopes to attend at least one World Series game in Los Angeles and another in Toronto. He's not the Dodgers' $700 million man, but he said he'd be excited to meet Ohtani.
“I’m very disappointed,” Herjavec said with a laugh, “he didn’t ask me for financial advice.”
He's no different from the rest of us, including Ohtani's teammates. Watching Ohtani play brings to mind what Jack Buck said about Kirk Gibson's home run: “I don't believe what I just saw.”
“For me, as a non-professional and armchair athlete, to be able to throw a ball 100 miles an hour and then go out and hit three home runs?” – Herjavec said. “It's overwhelming.”
To become a successful businessman, you also need talent, right?
“That’s the beauty of business,” he said. “I always tell people: business is the only sport you can play at an elite level without God-given talent.”
Herjavec and his five-year-old twins were headed to Toronto that fateful Friday, and normally he would have known what was happening on the ground before he landed. However, he turned off all phones and tablets on board so he could play board games with his children and calm them down.
“I gave them too much sugar,” he said. “They were connected.”
After landing, Canadian customs officials boarded the plane in hopes of finding Ohtani. Herjavec and his children stepped off the plane into a flurry of national news because the Blue Jays are Team Canada.
I asked Herjavec if he had ever disappointed so many people in his life. He laughed.
“That’s such a great question,” he said. “This is my greatest achievement: I failed an entire nation at one time.”
The Blue Jays have a rich history. They won back-to-back World Series championships in 1992-93, and the Dodgers are trying to repeat that feat.
The Jays haven't been to the World Series since 1993, but this isn't even close to Toronto's longest and most painful championship drought.
The Maple Leafs, Canada's national sport, have not won the Stanley Cup since 1967. It's like the Dodgers or Yankees haven't won the World Series since 1967.
“Talk about letting people down,” Herjavec said.
The difference between Americans and Canadians, he said, is that Americans expect to win, while Canadians believe it would be nice to win.
He counts himself in the latter camp. He might call both the Dodgers and Blue Jays the home team, but he's rooting for Toronto in this World Series.
“I must,” he said, “because I have already disappointed the whole country once.
“I hope that with my moral support this will save me in front of the Canadians.”
