Throughout a Thursday Los Angeles Dodgers recreation versus the Miami Marlins, baseball phenom Shohei Ohtani hit a document that no different participant has reached.
In that recreation, Ohtani grew to become the primary baseball participant to achieve the elusive “50/50” milestone, which interprets to hitting 50 residence runs and stealing 50 bases in a single season. This new stat surpasses information set by then-Seattle Mariner Alex Rodriguez in 1998, when he achieved a “42/42,” and Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr., who hit 41 residence runs and stole 73 bases in 2023. It’s significantly spectacular as a result of most gamers are both muscular energy hitters or speedy base stealers, not each.
This newest document additionally solely provides to Ohtani’s dominance in Main League Baseball. First signed to the Los Angeles Angels in 2017, Ohtani has lengthy been thought of uniquely gifted due to how good he’s at each hitting and pitching, a uncommon mixture. Given his strengths as a “two-way participant” – of a caliber not seen for the reason that likes of Babe Ruth – he secured one of the profitable contracts within the sport when the Dodgers supplied him a 10-year $700 million deal in 2023. Since becoming a member of the MLB, Ohtani has grow to be the primary participant in latest reminiscence to be within the high 15 for each residence runs scored and strikeouts pitched in a single season.
Along with being the one member of the 50/50 membership, Ohtani turned in a traditionally robust recreation on Thursday. In six at-bats, Ohtani hit three residence runs, two doubles, and a single, scoring each time. His hits additionally led to 10 runs batted in (RBIs), setting a brand new Dodgers document. And on high of that, he stole two bases. (Meaning he didn’t simply hit the 50/50 mark, he truly now has a document 51 residence runs and stolen bases.)
Notably, Ohtani can be nonetheless recovering from an elbow surgical procedure that’s left him unable to pitch this season.
All that has made Thursday’s recreation a neat encapsulation of what has made Ohtani a star. He’s demonstrated unusual versatility within the recreation as a commanding pitcher and hitter, and now a record-breaking base-stealer, too. Gamers recovering from surgical procedure typically have sluggish seasons, however that simply has not been the case for Ohtani. And because the Washington Submit notes, it could actually take different gamers a number of video games to do what Ohtani did Thursday in a single. That Ohtani was in a position to obtain a lot in Thursday’s recreation speaks to why he’s one of many most-hyped athletes in Main League Baseball, and already thought of by many followers to be one of many best gamers of all time.
The document is a testomony to Ohtani’s distinctive energy as a hitter, in addition to his pace.
Ohtani had considered one of his strongest offensive video games of the season on Thursday, in the end serving to the Dodgers land a spot on this yr’s playoffs with the runs he scored. He’s additionally refined his potential to steal bases, bettering his “working mechanics” and broader offensive methods, in accordance with the Wall Road Journal. As ESPN notes, gamers in Ohtani’s present place — designated hitter, an athlete who stands in to bat for the pitcher — are typically sluggish. Earlier than this yr, Ohtani hadn’t stolen greater than 26 bases in a single season.
Following an damage in 2023, Ohtani was compelled to take a break from pitching and as a substitute used that point and power to enhance his base stealing. His newest success additionally comes after a dramatic sports activities playing scandal earlier this yr involving his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, who allegedly stole cash from Ohtani to cowl money owed and pleaded responsible to financial institution fraud. After an investigation by the League, Ohtani was in the end exonerated of wrongdoing.
Ohtani’s record-shattering recreation this week firmly established his ascendancy within the sport and was broadly cheered by different baseball greats together with the Oakland Athletics’ Jose Canseco, who in 1988 was the primary participant to hit “40/40,” and fellow gamers like Tampa Bay Rays’ Taylor Partitions, who stated that his crew was watching Ohtani’s recreation whereas enjoying its personal.
“This man is unreal,” basketball legend Lebron James posted on X.
Ohtani’s colleague on the Dodgers, second baseman Gavin Lux, finest summed up Thursday’s recreation and Ohtani’s model of play.
“That needs to be the best baseball recreation of all time. It needs to be,” Lux stated after the sport. “There’s no manner. It’s ridiculous. I’ve by no means seen anyone do this even in Little League, so it’s loopy that he’s doing that on the highest degree.”