Shohei Ohtani almost unintentionally ruined Alek Manoah's wedding day

Where were you during one of the wildest times in baseball internet history? I'm speaking, of course, of the Shohei Ohtani free agency saga, which played out like a Robert Ludlum novel in real-time this past December. Flights were tracked, wild rumors flew, and poor Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah was just trying to get married.

Manoah was in Puerto Rico with his bride-to-be and some of their closest friends and family to celebrate their impending nuptial, but the special occasion was nearly derailed by, of all things, a certain 6'4" Japanese two-way player's employment decision.

Alex Manoah learned Ohtani wasn't a Blue Jay right before he walked down the aisle

As reported (subscription required) by Jayson Stark of The Athletic, Manoah and his teammates were tracking Ohtani's decision up until the moment he walked down the aisle, at which point he got the bad news from his dad: Ohtani wasn't coming to Toronto after all, an idea that had gained steam as internet sleuths erroneously tracked a flight believed to be Ohtani's heading to Toronto.

Manoah and his Blue Jays teammates expressed momentary disappointment at not landing the generational superstar, but the show did go on, as he tied the knot soon after with his partner, Marielena Somoza.

"“Then I remember, as I was walking down the aisle and saying hi to everybody or whatever, I saw the guys (from the Blue Jays) sitting all together. And I was, like: ‘What’s up, boys? Damn, we didn’t get Ohtani.’ Yeah, on my way down the aisle. And we all started laughing.”"

This was the MLB version of "The DeAndre Jordan Affair," which, like "The Shohei Ohtani Saga," would also make a great Ludlum title. NBA fans will remember Blake Griffin's tweet that showed him blocking the door of Jordan's house as he and his Clippers teammates swayed him away from the Mavericks at the eleventh hour. For baseball fans, we'll always have the Ohtani flight tracker and the story of Yusei Kikuchi supposedly renting out an entire Toronto sushi restaurant to celebrate Ohtani's arrival.

I love this story because it's a reminder that Major Leaguers and fans aren't so different after all. While so many of us were obsessively refreshing Twitter to learn the result of the most portentous free agency decision in baseball history, so too were the Blue Jays, even as they gathered to support their teammate on the biggest day of his life. Let's raise a toast to the Manoahs, to Ohtani, and to everyone who has sat at a wedding, a graduation, or any other important family event with our phone in our lap to follow a big game or a huge news story from the sports world. This one's for you.