Dave Roberts Reacts to Dodgers-Lakers Crossover With Hilarious Shohei Ohtani Warning

Los Angeles might just be turning into a true sports empire, under one roof. Well, in a move that could reshape the city’s professional sports landscape, Dodgers owner Mark Walter is reportedly in the process of buying the Lakers. That’s right: the two crown jewel sports franchises of LA, the Dodgers and the Lakers, could soon have the same ownership.

While this development is still unfolding, fans are already buzzing with one wild, yet hilarious, thought. Imagine a crossover between the teams with LeBron James throwing the first pitch or Shohei Ohtani sinking threes at halftime in the NBA! Surely, none of this is possible, but that didn’t stop Dodgers manager Dave Roberts from weighing in with a hilarious response.

“Hands off of Shohei. They have enough superstars wearing the purple and gold. Leave Shohei alone,” he said.

While fans can’t keep calm seeing Ohtani as a two-way player, Roberts certainly doesn’t want to see him as a two-sport player! Jokes apart, Ohtani is here with the Dodgers and for long. He will keep hitting the homers and throwing fireballs.

The Japanese ace is not shooting hoops anytime soon, unless it’s just for fun in the offseason with his wife Mamiko, who used to play pro basketball in Japan.

But hey, hypothetically speaking if Ohtani was a basketball player, it wouldn’t be surprising if he somehow turned into a two-way star on the court too, just like he’s done in baseball. Well, regardless of the reality, who’s stopping fans from dreaming a little?

The moment the news broke that Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter is set to buy a majority stake in the Lakers from the Buss family for a whopping $10 billion, social media exploded. Suddenly, Shohei Ohtani’s face was everywhere, superimposed onto Lakers jerseys as if he was gearing up to be their next superstar.

It’s all fantasy, of course, but it’s the kind of crossover hype LA lives for.

However, now that the Lakers are going to be under Mark Walter, we may hope for a Dodgers-like team management. And if that’s the case, the Lakers are going the change the status quo once the trade window opens in the NBA. A splurge of big names and financial flex, something the Dodgers are known for, might get replicated in the purple and gold jersey!

As for Ohtani, he is looking to keep his two-way journey on. In baseball.

Ohtani is doing Ohtani things 

Since he donned the Dodgers’ jersey, it was long-awaited that Ohtani would be back on the mound. Well, the wait was over on Monday when he pitched to the Padres hitters. While the moment was historic, Ohtani fell short of delivering the expected result.

Ohtani’s much-anticipated return to the mound had its moments, but also some bumps. He ended up throwing 28 pitches, 16 of them for strikes, and even hit 100.2 mph on his four-seamer, averaging 96.8 mph across nine fastballs. It was a limited exposure to the mound, but a fair start after more than 2 years.

While Ohtani’s pitching comeback has had its ups and downs, his bat continues to do the heavy lifting. No surprises there. The Japanese has already launched 25 homers this season and is batting .296, keeping his name right in the middle of every MVP conversation. Sure, breaking last year’s 50 stolen base mark might be a stretch, but he’s chasing something even more historic.

With 73 runs in the Dodgers’ first 72 games, Ohtani is on pace for 164 runs this season. Would you believe if we say that would be the modern NL record?

For the unversed, no NL player has hit that mark since the 1800s. And only two players across all of MLB have done it since 1900. Babe Ruth in 1921 (177 runs) and Lou Gehrig in 1936 (167). So yeah, Ohtani’s doing Ohtani things again, rewriting the record books one game at a time.