This season wasn’t supposed to be about Shohei Ohtani’s stats.
After three years of increasingly impressive on-field accomplishments from the player who plays on both sides of the ball, Ohtani’s offseason jump from the Angels to the Dodgers introduced a wealth of new and intriguing storylines involving this once-in-a-lifetime talent. But with elbow surgery late last season restricting Ohtani to designated hitter duties in 2024, our collective instinct was to put our hopes for more never-before-seen feats on hold for a year while he rehabbed his way back to his status as a player who plays on both sides of the ball.
Meanwhile, there was no shortage of captivating subplots to monitor: A $700 million free-agent contract with unprecedented extensions. Ohtani’s fit at the top of a lineup with two other MVPs in Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. How he would handle his designated hitter responsibilities while simultaneously rehabbing from the second elbow surgery of his career. A betting scandal involving his former performer, Ippei Mizuhara, that rocked the baseball world just before Opening Day. The chance to play in October after six straight losing seasons in Anaheim. Teaming with another Japanese superstar in Yoshinobu Yamamoto. His wife! His dog! And on and on.
With so much else going on around Ohtani’s debut season in Dodgers blue, his raw statistical production — temporarily limited to that of just one hitter (and one who doesn’t play defense) — seemed likely to be secondary.
Or so we thought.
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Instead, once again, Ohtani has found a way to make history. On Thursday against the Marlins at loanDepot Park, he became the first player to hit 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in an MLB season. And then he became the first player to hit 51 of each.
“I feel happy, relieved and with a lot of respect for my teammates and all those who came before me who played this game of baseball,” Ohtani said through an interpreter after the Dodgers’ 20-4 victory over the Marlins.
A playful one Mookie Betts told reporters who perceived something more from his companion on his historic day.
“I don’t even know if it was a sense of relief,” Betts said. “I think it felt good and sexy, and I knew I was going to do this today. I could have hit four home runs today.”
Ohtani’s gradual march toward an unimaginable milestone concluded with one of the finest offensive performances of his now-legendary major league tenure: a career-high six hits with three home runs, two stolen bases and a Dodgers-record 10 RBIs. Never before had a player I accomplished all those things in a single major league game, and Ohtani did it while founding a club that didn’t exist before. Barely mentioned was the fact that it was also the first three-homer game of his MLB career.
“To be honest, I’m probably the most surprised,” Ohtani said. According to the Associated Press“I have no idea where this came from, but I’m glad it went well today.”
It was a memorable day at the same ballpark where Ohtani gave us the highlight of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, when he struck out Mike Trout to secure the win for Team Japan. He clearly likes playing in South Florida.
“I’ve probably had the most memorable moments here in my career, and this stadium has become one of my favorite stadiums,” he said.
There has never been a player like Shohei Ohtani.
So yes, the inaugural member of the 50-50 club is the same player who struck out 167 batters in 132 innings last year and is working his way back to a possible return to the mound this postseason. Ohtani’s 50th homer marked a new franchise record for a Dodgers season, surpassing Shawn Green’s 49 homers in 2001, and that’s pretty much just a footnote.
Ohtani’s latest and greatest achievement had been in the making for months, but it wasn’t a certainty until recently. With 14 homers and 13 stolen bases through the end of May, he was firmly on track for the best power and speed season of his career, but not necessarily on pace to do anything unprecedented. On June 16, Ohtani homered twice in Kansas City to bring his season totals to 19 homers and 15 stolen bases. At the time, 30-30 seemed likely, with 40-40 plausible.
But something else happened in that June 16 game that dramatically altered the course of Ohtani’s season: Betts suffered a fractured left wrist after being hit by a pitch. This was a brutal blow for the Dodgers. But Betts’ two-month absence introduced an unexpected dynamic to the top of the Dodgers’ lineup: Ohtani as the leadoff hitter.
Rather than keep Ohtani in the second spot and replace Betts with someone else, manager Dave Roberts opted to move his new superstar to the top of the order. Ohtani had some experience in the role, with 61 games hitting leadoff in his six years in Anaheim. So it was a logical, if seemingly temporary, solution, but still a considerable adjustment for Ohtani after being among his MVP peers at the top of the lineup for the first third of the season.
Of course, he responded brilliantly. Ohtani seamlessly adapted to the new challenges (and opportunities) inherent in being the leadoff hitter. He maintained his hitting style and amplified his contributions on the bases to better embody his new role. Case in point: He hit eight home runs in his first 13 games as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter and then stole 12 bases in July, the most he’d ever done in a single month in his career.
However, August was when Ohtani really hit his stride, so much so that when Betts returned to the lineup, it was an easy decision for the Dodgers to keep Ohtani in the leadoff spot. His 12 homers and 15 steals in August made him the eighth player in history accumulate at least 10 home runs and 10 stolen bases in a calendar month.
“Specifically with Mookie, he was obviously injured and out for a good portion of the season,” Ohtani said Thursday. “I ended up hitting leadoff. And when he came back, we decided to prioritize communication with each other to have a better flow hitting first and second in the lineup. I think that’s something I’ll continue to do with him as we prepare for the postseason.”
Since RBI became official in 1920, only one MLB player has had, throughout his entire career (same game or not),
a game with 10+ RBI
a game with 6+ hits
a game with 5+ XBH
a game with 3+ HR
a game with 2+ SBThat player is Shohei Ohtani. He did it all today. image.twitter.com/njXOmwHKnm
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) September 20, 2024
Ohtani joined the 40-40 club in emphatic fashion against the Rays on Aug. 23: After stealing his 40th base of the season in the fourth inning, Ohtani hit a game-winning grand slam and his 40th home run to seal the victory for Los Angeles. The first of five previous members of the 40-40 club to reach both milestones was Alfonso Soriano in 2006, who stole his 40th base in the Nationals’ 148th game of the season. Ohtani did it in Game No. 129.
This blistering pace opened the door to the unthinkable: a 50-50 season. As Ohtani had done so many times in his career, the boundaries of what was once thought possible on a baseball field were shattered.
And so he went on and eventually turned the impossible into reality.