Shohei Ohtani has done it.
The Los Angeles Dodgers star has achieved the never-before-seen 50-50 season, 50 home runs and 50 steals in the same season. And he did it with nine games to spare.
He did it in a very Ohtani fashion on Thursday, hitting two homers and stealing two bases against the Miami Marlins in a five-hit, seven-RBI game.
His 50 homers breaks Shawn Green’s 2001 record for the most in Dodgers history.
The final piece of the puzzle came in the seventh inning on Thursday off Marlins reliever Mike Baumann.
Ohtani reached the half-century mark in steals early in the first inning, stealing third after opening the game with a double.
The star DH later scored a run, giving Los Angeles an early 1-0 lead over Miami. He added his 51st steal in the second inning, reaching base on an RBI single and taking second without a throw.
His 49th home run came in the sixth inning, and it was a big one. Statcast measured it as 111.2 mph off the bat and traveling 438 feet to give the Dodgers a 9-3 lead.
Given that Ohtani was thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple in the top of the third, he was also seconds from posting a cycle.
Thursday was also Ohtani’s 13th game of the season with at least one homer and steal, which ties him with Rickey Henderson in 1986 for the most in MLB history according to The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya.
Shohei Ohtani has already made plenty of history with Dodgers
In addition to his 50-50 season, Ohtani has done enough to make his first season with the Dodgers worth remembering.
As far as reaching certain numbers in home runs and stolen bases goes, Ohtani has journeyed deep into uncharted territory. In August, he became the sixth player to ever reach 40-40 — joining Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodríguez, Alfonso Soriano and Ronald Acuña Jr. — and he did so in record time. The earliest any of those players had reached both thresholds was Soriano on Sept. 16, 2006.
And Ohtani’s 40th homer was a special one: a walk-off grand slam.
Rodriguez previously held the record for most in both categories, with 42 homers and 46 stolen bases in 1998. Ohtani matched that 42-42 season on his bobblehead night on Aug. 28 and surpassed it two days later on Aug. 30.
Ohtani’s current home run count surpasses his previous career high of 46 set in 2021, his first MVP year, and he has already shattered his previous best in steals (26, also in 2021). He currently leads the NL in homers and ranks behind only Elly De La Cruz in steals.
And, of course, Ohtani set records for both size of contract ($700 million) and deferred contract money ($680 million) when he signed with the Dodgers before this season.
Ohtani has built his career on being unprecedented. Even in a season in which he isn’t able to pitch, having undergone UCL surgery at the end of 2023, he is still doing things MLB has never seen.
Source Agencies
