It Happened: Newborn in Mexico Named After Shohei Ohtani

The running joke after the Los Angeles Dodgers claimed their second consecutive World Series title was that their heavy Hispanic fan base would honor one of its many stars by naming their future children after them.

In fact, the Dodgers' verified Instagram account, boasting nearly 6 million followers, posted a photo of a sign at the Dodgers' championship parade in downtown Los Angeles that read, "Dad, why is my name Yoshi Miguel Yamamoto Pages Smith?" which is in reference to Game 7 heroes Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Miguel Rojas, Andy Pages, and Will Smith.

Well, the shtick is no longer a running joke, because it actually happened.

A popular Dodger fan who bartends at Dodger Stadium and boasts more than 30,000 followers on X, posted on Wednesday a partial photo of a Mexican birth certificate purportedly showing a newborn being named Jesus Ohtani Lomeli Serrano.

The photo quickly went viral, and popular baseball Instagram accounts, including Baseballer and Dodgers Nation, shared it to their combined 1.4 million followers.

Game 7 Was An Instant Classic

The Dodgers ultimately dispatched the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday at Rogers Centre with an incredible comeback that included Rojas' dramatic game-tying home run in the top of the 9th inning and a game-saving defensive play in the bottom of the 9th, before Yamamoto proved he's a cyborg after picking up his third win in the World Series to help the Dodgers secure the franchise's 9th World Series title.

Truth be told, the entire series, which included Game 3's epic 18-inning marathon ended by Freddie Freeman's walk-off home run, was pure cinema. But fans will undoubtedly forever remember the roller-coaster ride that was Game 7.

According to multiple reports, Game 7 drew an average of 25.5 million viewers on Fox, peaking in the late innings with a whopping 31.5 million viewers.

Game 7 turned out to be the most-watched baseball game since Game 7 of the 2017 World Series, which also involved the Dodgers, who lost. That game averaged 28.3 million viewers.