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Shohei Ohtani tracker: Dodgers star reaches unprecedented 50-50 season, then 51-51 with epic game against Marlins
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Shohei Ohtani tracker: Dodgers star reaches unprecedented 50-50 season, then 51-51 with epic game against Marlins

Shohei Ohtani did it.

The Los Angeles Dodgers star has achieved an unprecedented 50-50 season, hitting 50 home runs and 50 steals in the same season. And he did it with nine games remaining.

He then tied the game 51-51 in the same game, helping his team clinch the first playoff spot of his career.

And Ohtani did it with one of the best offensive games in MLB history: 6-for-6, three homers, two stolen bases, two doubles, four runs and 10 RBI. His 50th homer also broke Shawn Green’s 2001 record for most in Dodgers history.

The final piece of the puzzle came in the seventh inning on Thursday against Marlins reliever Mike Baumann.

Ohtani reached the half-century mark for steals early in the first inning, stealing third base after leading off the game with a double.

The star DH later scored a run to give Los Angeles an early 1-0 lead over Miami. He added his 51st steal in the second inning after reaching on an RBI single and taking second base without a pitch.

His 49th home run came in the sixth inning, and it was a big one. Statcast measured it at 111.2 mph off the bat and a distance of 438 feet, giving the Dodgers a 9-3 lead.

Considering Ohtani was eliminated in the third inning trying to stretch a double into a triple, he was also seconds away from a cycle.

The exclamation point came in the ninth inning against position-player pitcher Vidal Brujan. Ohtani took the yard to post the first three-homer, two-stolen-base game in MLB history and the 16th 10-RBI game in MLB history.

Thursday also marked Ohtani’s 13th game of the season with at least one home run and one steal, tying him with Rickey Henderson in 1986 for the most in MLB history, according to Fabian Ardaya from The Athletic.

Besides his 51-51 season, Ohtani has done more than enough to make his first season with the Dodgers worth remembering.

When it comes to reaching certain numbers of home runs and stolen bases, Ohtani has ventured deep into uncharted territory. In August, he became the sixth player ever to reach 40-40 — joining Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodríguez, Alfonso Soriano and Ronald Acuña Jr. — and he did so in record time. The first player to reach both thresholds was Soriano on Sept. 16, 2006.

And Ohtani’s 40th home run was a special one: a walk-off grand slam.

Rodriguez previously held the record for most hits in both categories, with 42 home runs and 46 stolen bases in 1998. Ohtani tied that season mark of 42-42 during his bobblehead night on August 28 and surpassed it two days later on August 30.

Ohtani’s current home run tally surpasses his previous career high of 46, set in 2021, his first MVP year, and he has already broken his previous record in steals (26, also in 2021). He currently leads the NL in homers and trails only Elly De La Cruz in steals.

And of course, Ohtani broke records for both contract size ($700 million) and deferred contract amount ($680 million) when he signed with the Dodgers before this season.

Ohtani has built his career on being unheard of. Even in a season where he can’t pitch after undergoing UCL surgery in late 2023, he’s still doing things the MLB has never seen before.