Roberts restarts the prank war with Shohei Ohtani and gives Otani a warm gift

The first car means a lot to most people. Dodgers head coach Dave Roberts is making sure the new Otani family member has a cool mobility device in the future — and before the game against the Mets on Thursday (local time in Los Angeles on Wednesday), he presented Shohei Ohtani with a "baby-only car": a pink Porsche children's remote-controlled car.

"This is a gift from my wife and I to Baby Ohtani," Roberts said before the game, "and while we continue to play friendly pranks, this is a genuine gift." "

The duo's car prank affair began when Ohtani promised to give back the coach's car after breaking Roberts' all-time record for a home run by a Japanese-born player held by Roberts last May. Ohtani cashed in on a toy Porsche — a move that echoed his time when he joined the Dodgers and gave the real Porsche of the wife of support pitcher Joe Kelly in exchange for the No. 17 back number.

Prank escalation during spring training: Ohtani places another toy Porsche in the Roberts parking space at Camelback Ranch. The head coach is even more vengeful - stuffing Ohtani's car with colorful plastic balls, "Decoy" (decoy) and excitedly shuttling through it.

The two sides had declared a prank truce, so Otani hesitated a little when he walked into the office and heard that "a gift for your daughter". He smiled when he realized the truth. "It's a joke," Roberts stresses in the video, "but the gift is genuine." Otani glanced at the camera slyly as he thanked him: "I thought I was in trouble." "Laugh out loud.

The move marked Roberts' heartwarming restart of the prank war. Now the suspense remains: how will Ohtani respond?