Throughout a Thursday Los Angeles Dodgers sport versus the Miami Marlins, baseball phenom Shohei Ohtani hit a document that no different participant has reached.
In that sport, Ohtani turned the primary baseball participant to achieve the elusive “50/50” milestone, which interprets to hitting 50 dwelling 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 dwelling 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 crucial profitable contracts within the sport when the Dodgers offered him a 10-year $700 million deal in 2023. Since becoming a member of the MLB, Ohtani has become the first player in recent memory to be in the top 15 for each dwelling 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 sturdy sport on Thursday. In six at-bats, Ohtani hit three dwelling 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 prime of that, he stole two bases. (Which means he didn’t simply hit the 50/50 mark, he really now has a document 51 home runs and stolen bases.)
Notably, Ohtani can also be nonetheless recovering from an elbow surgery that’s left him unable to pitch this season.
All that has made Thursday’s sport a neat encapsulation of what has made Ohtani a star. He’s demonstrated unusual versatility within the sport 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 Post notes, it might probably 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 sport 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.
What the document means
The document is a testomony to Ohtani’s distinctive energy as a hitter, in addition to his pace.
Ohtani had one in all his strongest offensive video games of the season on Thursday, in the end serving to the Dodgers land a spot on this 12 months’s playoffs with the runs he scored. He’s additionally refined his potential to steal bases, bettering his “operating mechanics” and broader offensive strategies, according to the Wall Street Journal. As ESPN notes, gamers in Ohtani’s present place — designated hitter, an athlete who stands in to bat for the pitcher — are usually sluggish. Earlier than this 12 months, Ohtani hadn’t stolen greater than 26 bases in a single season.
Following an harm in 2023, Ohtani was pressured 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 12 months 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 sport 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 staff was watching Ohtani’s sport while playing its own.
“This man is unreal,” basketball legend Lebron James posted on X.
Ohtani’s colleague on the Dodgers, second baseman Gavin Lux, greatest summed up Thursday’s sport and Ohtani’s model of play.
“That needs to be the best baseball sport of all time. It needs to be,” Lux said after the game. “There’s no method. 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 stage.”
