The Drake Curse strikes again.
The Toronto-born rapper posted a picture of himself wearing a Shohei Ohtani jersey — likely to celebrate Friday reports of the two-way Japanese star flying in to sign with the Blue Jays.
The reports were soon debunked. as many notable insiders checked in and found Ohtani was actually in his Southern California home.
Drake, born Aubrey Graham, has a well-documented history of showing support for player and teams — whether through jerseys or bets — only to see them suffer flops or injuries.
In fact, this is not the first time an image of Drake wearing an Ohtani jersey preceded suboptimal news about the reigning AL MVP.
In August, Drake wore an Ohtani All-Star jersey, only for the slugger to suffer a season-ending UCL injury.
Of course, it’s just the latest conspiracy theory to involve the free agency chase around the accomplished hurler, which has been shrouded in mystery.
Early Friday, Reddit was abuzz with the users connecting a cross-continent flight to Ohtani.
That came as Canadian opera singer Clarence Fraser shared a tip he received about Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi reserving an “entire upscale sushi restaurant near Rogers Centre” for 50+ people, with the X post having some underlying Ohtani implications.
Wherever Ohtani does land — the Jays are among the reported frontrunners along with the Dodgers, Giants, Angels and Cubs — they’ll be getting an elite hitter, coming off a 2023 in which he posted a 10 WAR, including 44 home runs and a 1.066 OPS (.304/.412/.654).
Because of his UCL injury and the resulting Tommy John surgery, Ohtani, who had a 3.14 ERA in 23 starts last season, won’t be able to take the mound again until 2025.
It’s the second time he’s had the procedure.
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