Apparently being the first two-way player in Major League Baseball in 100 years wasn’t enough for Shohei Ohtani, as the incomparable star of the Los Angeles Dodgers created his own club on Thursday, and it’s a club of one. Ohtani entered the 50/50 club, with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single-season, becoming the first player in MLB history to accomplish the feat.
He was just shy of both legs of the milestone as he entered Thursday’s game with the Miami Marlins with 48 home runs and 49 stolen bases. But he didn’t even wait for the first inning to end to scratch one part off as he doubled to lead off the game, then saw Freddie Freeman walk to put Dodgers on first and second. Los Angeles then executed a double steal with Ohtani taking third base and Freeman taking second. That was steal No. 50, making him the first Dodgers player in a decade to reach the 50-stolen base plateau.
If that wasn’t enough, when Ohtani singled in the second inning, he then stole another base to give him 51 as he’s making it clear he’s not simply chasing numbers and is doing whatever he can to help his team win. However, what he did in the sixth inning made an even bigger impact on Los Angeles’s victory chances: He clubbed a 438-foot home run for his 49th long ball of the season. That tied Shawn Green (2001) for the most home runs in a single-season in Dodgers history, but the two-time MVP wasn’t done there.
In the seventh inning, Ohtani came to the plate on the verge of history with 51 stolen bases and 49 home runs. He saw a knuckle-curve pitch and went the other way for a 391-foot homer, thus notching the achievement. He celebrated while rounding the bases, then the fans celebrated him. Even playing on the road in front of Miami fans, Ohtani received a standing ovation as he entered the dugout, and the applause continued so long that he gave a curtain call in an opponent’s ballpark.
As the only member of the 50/50 club, every stolen base and every home run from here on out is simply making more history, and more history would come in the ninth inning. As if a two-home run, two-stolen base day wasn’t enough, Ohtani authored his first career three-homer game with a 440-foot bomb in the final frame. You could argue that he simply wanted uniformity as that gave him 51 home runs and 51 stolen bases on the season.
Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. once infamously said, “I’m not a home run hitter,” despite leading the league in homers four times and winning three Home Run Derbies. Well, Ohtani made it clear on Thursday that he’s not just a home run hitter or a stolen base machine, as he also clubbed two doubles on the day. Overall, he had the game of his life and one of the greatest games in MLB history as he finished 6 for 6 with three home runs, two doubles, four runs scored, two stolen bases, and a mind-boggling 10 RBI.
The 10 runs batted in tied an MLB record as he became the 16th player to accomplish the feat, and he managed to do it from the spot in the lineup that historically drives in the fewest runs, the leadoff spot. Prior to this game, no leadoff batter in MLB history had ever driven in more than eight runs in a game.
The final score is almost an afterthought, but the Dodgers rolled over the Marlins 20-4.
Before the 50/50 club was born, the 40/40 club was seen as the preeminent measure of a player’s power plus speed combination. Only five players in the history of Major League Baseball, which dates back to 1876 and is now in its 149th season, had previously hit at least 40 home runs with at least 40 stolen bases in a season. Ronald Acuña Jr. did it last season, and before that only Alfonso Soriano (2006), Alex Rodriguez (1998), Barry Bonds (1996), and Jose Canseco (1988) had done it before. The first five all reached the milestone in mid-to-late September, which is the final full month of an MLB season, while Ohtani reached 40/40 on Aug. 23 and did it in 21 fewer games than any other player.
Ohtani leads the National League in home runs, RBI, runs, total bases, slugging percentage, and OPS, and he’s all but assured of winning his third MVP award in the last four seasons. The one major stat he doesn’t top the NL in is stolen bases as Elly De La Cruz of the Reds leads the Senior Circuit with 64, but there’s still a week-and-a-half left in the season. It would take a historic stolen base spree for Ohtani to surpass De La Cruz, but historic seems to be synonymous with Ohtani since he made his MLB debut six years ago.
