Until Friday, the prank war between Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani and manager Dave Roberts had been quite one-sided. However, Roberts made a comeback with a prank so clever that even Ohtani had to admit they were now even.
On Friday night, the Dodgers released a video showing Ohtani walking to the parking lot, only to discover that his car was stuffed with hundreds of colorful ball-pit balls, which spilled out onto the pavement as he opened the door.
It didn’t take long for Ohtani to figure out who was behind it, as Roberts left a picture of himself laughing at the scene, with his face plastered on all the balls.
“Alright,” a smiling Ohtani said upon finding Roberts’ picture. “Now we’re tied.”
Roberts also took credit for the prank in a video message.
“Okay, Shohei. You got me in the first round,” Roberts said. “I told you, payback is a thing. So what I did is — you see this pretty face right here? That’s me with all these balls. I put them in your car. Enjoy, keep these pictures, and have fun cleaning out your car.”
This prank was Roberts’ revenge after Ohtani had pulled several car-related gags on him since last season, which was Ohtani’s first with the team, culminating in a stellar 50/50 campaign that earned him his third unanimous MVP award in four years.
Last May, as Ohtani was about to break Roberts’ record for the most home runs by a Japanese-born player in Dodgers history, he told Roberts he had bought him a car to celebrate. He then handed over a toy Porsche. This was a nod to the previous December, when Ohtani gifted Joe Kelly’s wife, Ashley, a real Porsche after Kelly agreed to let him wear No. 17.
Ohtani got Roberts again when he arrived at Spring Training last month, leaving another (slightly larger) toy Porsche in Roberts’ parking spot.