MIAMI: Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani made Major League Baseball history on Thursday, becoming the first player ever to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season.
Ohtani officially established MLB's 50-50 club with a seventh-inning homer in the Dodgers' 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami.
The win clinched the Dodgers' post-season berth – a first for Ohtani, who never made the playoffs even as he earned two American League Most Valuable Player awards while with the Los Angles Angels.
The Dodgers had runners on the corners when Ohtani came to the plate with two outs in the seventh. He launched a curveball from Mike Baumann over the left centerfield wall.
His second home run of the contest gave him 50 for the season, after two stolen bases earlier in the game pushed his tally of steals to 51.
The Japanese standout had smashed his 49th home run of 2024 in the sixth, a 438-foot blast that tied Shawn Green's record for most by a Dodger in a single season, set in 2001.
And to cap a monster offensive performance, Ohtani added a third home run in the ninth inning, finishing the game with 51 homers and 51 steals so far this season.
He had six hits in six at-bats, including two doubles for a total of five extra-base hits.
He drove in 10 runs and scored four and could only laugh as he returned to the dugout after his final blast, the cheers of fans at LoanDepot Park ringing in his ears.
"To be honest, I'm the one probably most surprised," Ohtani said through a translator of the spectacular show. "I have no idea where this came from, but I'm glad I performed well today."
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, addressing his players in the clubhouse as they celebrated the victory, noted the achievement.
"This is a game that has been played for over 200 years," Roberts said. "And this is something that has never been done."
But Ohtani himself tried to keep the focus on the team.
"I'm glad that the team won," he said, admitting that with so much attention focused on his 50-50 pursuit, it "was something I wanted to get over as quickly as possible.
"It's something that I'm going to cherish for a very long time."
Already the fastest player to reach 40 homers and 40 stolen bases in a season, Ohtani had nabbed his 50th steal in the first inning when he belted a leadoff double and stole third, his well-timed slide allowing him to evade a tag by Marlins third baseman Connor Norby.
Ohtani scored on a sacrifice fly and one inning later he notched his 51st steal, swiping second after a single.
With his 50th stolen base, Ohtani surpassed Roberts for the second most by a Japanese-born player in MLB history, a list led by Ichiro Suzuki, who stole 56 in 2001.
Ohtani had earlier this season become MLB's all-time leader in home runs among Japanese-born players when he surpassed the 175 of Hideki Matsui.
The 30-year-old, who signed a record US$700 million free agent deal with the Dodgers in the off-season, now has 222 career home runs.
Meanwhile, Ohtani is ramping up his rehabilitation from surgery on his throwing elbow. Unable to showcase his pitching prowess this year, he has been throwing bullpen sessions and could face hitters soon.--AFP