MIAMI — Superhuman. Otherworldly. Unbelievable. One of a kind.
They’ve all been used to explain Shohei Ohtani over the course of his two-way, two-continent and two-time MVP-winning career; lofty descriptors for a unicorn player unlike any other to grace a diamond.
But on Thursday afternoon, in what started as a sleepy matinee at loanDepot Park in central Miami, none of those terms quite captured the most defining performance of Ohtani’s baseball life.
He didn’t just become the first player in MLB history to have 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season, eclipsing both marks in the Dodgers’ 20-4 win over the Miami Marlins — one that just so happened to clinch the first postseason bid of Ohtani’s career, and the 12th in a row for the Dodgers franchise.
Former Dodgers star Shawn Green calls Shohei Ohtani the greatest player who has ever lived after Ohtani broke Green’s franchise home run record.
But he did it with one of the greatest single-game performances the century-and-a-half-old sport has perhaps ever seen.
Six hits in six at-bats. Three home runs and two steals. Ten RBIs and 17 total bases. And then, at precisely 6:55 p.m. EDT in the top of the seventh inning, one signature moment that will forever live in baseball immortality.
In his first at-bat with a chance to inaugurate MLB’s 50-50 club, Ohtani clobbered a history-making two-run blast.
“This game has been around for a long time,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “And to do something that’s never been done — he’s one of one.”
Ohtani’s reaction?
“Just happy, relieved and very respectful to the peers and everybody that came before that played this sport of baseball,” he said through interpreter Will Ireton.
Shohei Ohtani became the first player ever to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season.
And, Ohtani also noted, thankful to complete the 50-50 chase at last.
“If I’m being honest,” he said, “it was something I wanted to get over as soon as possible.”
Home run No. 50 was equal parts predictable and astonishing; a 391-foot, 109.7-mph drive off a hanging two-strike curveball from Marlins relief pitcher Mike Baumann.
During his previous trip to the plate in the sixth inning, Ohtani hit his 49th home run of the season, moving to the precipice of history with a mammoth two-run shot deep into the ballpark’s upper deck.
When he came up again, most of a sparse 15,548-person crowd rose to its feet. Home plate umpire Dan Iassogna traded out his stash of baseballs for ones marked with pre-authentication tags.
In the Dodgers dugout, players and coaches clung to the top railing.
Is Shohei Ohtani having the greatest Dodgers season ever? Los Angeles Times beat writer Jack Harris with columnists Dylan Hernández and Bill Plaschke talk about the historical significance of today.
“You know what,” Roberts said when asked if he was expecting Ohtani to homer, “I kinda was.”
“I wasn’t expecting him to go backside,” Roberts added. “But I was like, ‘Shoot, man, this dude is locked in.’ You could just tell he wasn’t giving it away … I don’t think he was gonna be denied tonight.”
The only person who could’ve denied Ohtani in that moment was Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, who had the option of intentionally walking Ohtani with first base open and a right-handed pitcher on the mound.
Television cameras, however, caught Schumaker shoot down the idea with a blunt “f— that.”
“That’s a bad move baseball-wise, karma-wise, baseball-gods-wise,” Schumacher later in his postgame news conference. “You go after him and see if you can get him out.”
Ohtani fouled off his first two pitches, taking a pair of mighty hacks at fastballs up in the zone. Then, after laying off one curveball in the dirt, he immediately got another one down the heart of the plate.
As he had 49 times previously this season, the 30-year-old slugger planted his right foot, violently flung his hips, and destroyed the baseball with a majestic, piercing crack of the bat.
As the opposite-field shot landed in a club beyond the left-field wall, Ohtani dropped his bat, clinched his arms and screamed toward his dugout as he ran up the first-base line.
By the time he crossed home plate, many of his teammates were on the field to meet him. Almost all of them wore the same awe-struck expression.
Tony Voda couldn’t hold on to Shohei Ohtani’s historic 40-40 home-run ball, but he’ll always cherish the support Dodgers fans gave him afterward.
“In that situation, for him knowing that he’s right there on the edge of history, and to somehow stay inside a pitch and hit it on a line to left-center and not try to get too big,” third baseman Max Muncy said, “it’s just incredible.”
“I almost cried, to be honest with you,” added infielder Miguel Rojas. “It was a lot of emotions, because of everything that happens behind the scenes that we got to witness every single day.”
“I think he was just feeling good, feeling sexy and just knew, like, ‘I’m about to do this today,’” said Mookie Betts, who witnessed the moment from the on-deck circle. “I mean, he could’ve had four homers today. I’m at a loss for words.”
Beyond its 50-50 significance, Thursday’s game was historic through several other lenses.
Ohtani’s 50th homer set a franchise record for the Dodgers (91-62), passing Shawn Green’s previous high of 49, set in 2001.
His 10 RBIs on Thursday were also a franchise record, to go along with his first career three-homer game and career-high six hits.
Never before in MLB’s modern era, which dates to 1901, had a player had five extra-base hits and multiple stolen bases in the same game — with Ohtani swiping No. 50 by taking third base in the first inning, then adding steal No. 51 without a throw to second base in the top of the second.
He finished the day with 51 home runs, as well, finding the second deck again in the ninth inning against position player pitcher Vidal Bruján.
“Ideally, aiming for a home run is not the best way to hit a home run,” Ohtani said. “So for me I tried to focus on having quality at bats so aside from the homers that I hit, I was able to put together really good at bats throughout the game today.”
Ohtani has been accomplishing the unthinkable since he arrived in the majors in 2018. He became MLB’s first true two-way player since Babe Ruth a century earlier. He won a Rookie of the Year and two MVP awards. He led Japan to the World Baseball Classic championship in 2023 — clinching the title in the same stadium where he made history Thursday. He netted a record-breaking, albeit heavily deferred, $700-million contract to join the Dodgers this offseason.
This season, however, presented Ohtani a potentially once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
After undergoing Tommy John surgery late last season, Ohtani hasn’t been able to pitch all year. And while he has missed the mound, his singular focus as a designated hitter created possibilities that once seemed out of reach.
Ohtani had approached 50 home runs before, clubbing 46 of them in 2021 and 44 in just 135 games last season.
But his power this year has only been amplified. Ohtani’s 51 home runs are the most in the National League, and behind only Aaron Judge for the MLB lead. He is also the NL leader in slugging percentage, OPS and RBIs.
Fifty stolen bases was the more unexpected accomplishment, a mark Ohtani might not have ever reached had he still been pitching.
As a full-time two-way player, he never swiped more than 26 in a single MLB season, always pacing himself on the base paths to conserve energy (and protect his body) while starting games roughly once per week.
Shohei Ohtani has made plenty of money for the Dodgers, but with his 50-50 accomplishment coming in Miami, the Dodgers missed out on some additional revenue.
This year, though, Ohtani’s willingness to run — and confidence in doing so — has only grown as the season has progressed. With his two steals Thursday, he has now swiped 28 straight bags without being caught.
“He knew he wasn’t pitching this year, so I think he got a goal before the season started and it was to go for a lot of stolen bases and a lot of homers,” outfielder Teoscar Hernández said. “Everybody knows he can hit home runs. Everyone knows he can get stolen bases. But doing what he’s doing, he’s been consistent all year. He’s been amazing. All the work that he put in, it’s paying off.”
The only thing Ohtani failed to accomplish Thursday was his second career cycle, missing it by only a triple after getting thrown out trying to stretch his third-inning double to third.
Roberts also regretted that the 50-50 milestone didn’t take place at home, with large crowds expected at Dodger Stadium on an upcoming homestand.
Former Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías was captured on newly released video throwing a punch toward his wife, putting his MLB future in jeopardy.
“I know that there’s a lot of fans in Los Angeles,” Roberts said, “that are disappointed that he didn’t do it in L.A.”
But delaying greatness isn’t Ohtani’s style.
Just like last month, when he became the sixth member of MLB’s 40-40 club by recording both No. 40s in the same game, he didn’t want his 50-50 pursuit to drag any longer.
“You can just see he had that look in his eye,” Roberts said. “He wanted to get this thing over tonight.”
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