Shohei Ohtani has made history once again.
The Los Angeles Dodgers superstar on Friday became the fastest player in Major League Baseball history to join the 40-40 club, doing so in spectacular fashion with a grand slam to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays, 7-3.
It looked like Ohtani wouldn’t get another at-bat in the game unless it went to extra innings with the score tied 3-3. But Will Smith led off the bottom of the ninth by getting hit by a pitch and Tommy Edman followed with a single. After a sacrifice bunt by Miguel Rojas and a groundout by Gavin Lux, Max Muncy came in as a pinch-hitter for Enrique Hernandez and drew a walk to load the bases and bring Ohtani home.
Rays reliever Manuel Rodriguez had no choice but to pitch to Ohtani with the bases loaded. On his first pitch, he threw an 84 mph slider over the plate and Ohtani smashed it into center field.
Ohtani collected his 40th stolen base in the fourth inning, stealing second after a leadoff single off Tyler Alexander and putting himself one swing away from joining an exclusive club.
The two-time MVP entered Friday’s game with 39 homers and 39 stolen bases on the year. He joined the 30-30 club earlier this month in a 10-0 Dodgers win over the Oakland Athletics, making him the third-fastest player in league history to reach that mark. He did it in 108 games, one behind Alex Rodriguez’s mark set in 1998 with the Seattle Mariners and 18 behind Eric Davis, who did it in 90 games with the Cincinnati Reds in 1987.
Ohtani is now the sixth player in MLB history to hit 40 homers and steal 40 bases in a single season. Ronald Acuña Jr. reached the mark last season, when he stole an incredible 60 bases. Alfonso Soriano, Rodríguez, Barry Bonds and José Canseco are the others in the 40/40 club.
All five players needed until late September to accomplish the feat. Soriano was the fastest to do so on Sept. 16, 2006. Ohtani is nearly a month ahead of that pace.
Ohtani is hitting .292 with a .992 OPS to go along with his 40 homers this season, his first with the Dodgers. He leads the National League in homers and trails only New York Yankees star Aaron Judge, who hit his 49th homer of the season on Friday. Only Cincinnati Reds star Elly De La Cruz has stolen more bases this year, with 60.
While he’s still recovering from elbow surgery that kept him off the mound this year, Ohtani has proven to be an incredible candidate for the NL MVP award this season. His latest record only added points to that campaign, and there’s still more than a month of the regular season left.