The Dodgers feared they had lost Ohtani, only to land him the next day. The Blue Jays hoped they were getting the Japanese star, only to strike out in what became an underwhelming offseason. And Ohtani himself was left stuck in the middle, sitting at home wondering what to make of all the false information.

"I did meet with the Blue Jays organization, and the impression that I got was it was a really, really great organization," Ohtani said. "The fans are really good. The city, too."

As for the rumors of the Dec. 8 flight, and a coinciding report from a Dodgers-centric website claiming Ohtani was indeed signing with the Blue Jays?

"I was just following the news," Ohtani said with a chuckle. "I knew I wasn't on that flight, so I was curious too."

It might have been one of the worst rounds of golf in Dave Roberts' life.

Playing that day in a group that included actor Brian Baumgartner — better known as Kevin from NBC's "The Office" — Roberts was alerted of the Ohtani-to-Toronto reports at some point during the round's back nine.

He, too, assumed there must be some truth to the rumors. Less than a week after being part of the Dodgers' contingent that met with Ohtani at Dodger Stadium, his golf game imploded at the thought of the team's top offseason target slipping away.

"I'm better than I showed," Roberts joked recently. "I was miserable that day."

The Dodgers manager can laugh now knowing how the drama unfolded. But in the moment, he wasn't the only member of the organization grappling with the firestorm of uncertainty.

Although president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman had doubts about the accuracy of the reports, he felt nonetheless uneasy with the level of details emerging online — there were also incorrect rumors of a celebratory dinner being planned that night by Toronto pitcher (and fellow Japanese star) Yusei Kikuchi; of a news conference that the Blue Jays were planning to call; and of the impact that executives with Rogers Communications, a Canadian conglomerate that owns the country's only MLB club, had made to ostensibly woo Ohtani north of the border.

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