Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and star designated hitter Shohei Ohtani have had an ongoing prank war over the last year, but Roberts decided to take a more sincere route with his latest surprise for Ohtani.
The pranks began when Ohtani closed in on breaking Roberts's record for the most home runs hit by a Japanese-born player in Dodgers' history. Ohtani told Roberts that he had bought him a car, only to surprise Roberts with a miniature toy car. Ohtani followed it up by parking a toy Porsche in Roberts's parking spot when he reported for spring training. Finally, Roberts got "revenge" by filling Ohtani's car with a bunch of toy balls from a ball pit and pictures of his face.
For Roberts's next surprise to Ohtani, he opted to purchase a pink electronic toy Porsche for Ohtani's daughter. The gift was a nod to their previous jokes, but also a nice gift for his daughter, who was born in April.
"I'm surprising Shohei," Roberts said in a video shared by the Dodgers' social media team. "My wife and I purchased this electronic remote car for his daughter. Shohei's been very gracious and we've got this long-running practical joke. This is more of a sincere gesture, not necessarily a practical joke, but I wanted to present it to him."
Doc and his wife bought Shohei's daughter a brand new car...kind of. 😂 pic.twitter.com/LBNMAwdHRU
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 4, 2025
The video then showed Roberts presenting the gift in Ohtani, who laughed in response and thought the gift was "nice."
Ohtani hilariously admitted after he thought he "was in trouble" when he got called into Roberts's office. Instead, he was pleasantly surprised with the gift.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Dave Roberts Surprised Shohei Ohtani With Special Gift for His Daughter.
