In a season already brimming with unprecedented feats, Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani just cemented himself in baseball history in a way no one has ever done before.
On a crisp September evening at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida, Ohtani blasted his 50th home run of the season, an absolute rocket into left field that sent the opposing crowd into an absolute frenzy.
In doing so, Ohtani officially became the first player in MLB history to join the exclusive, and unheard-of 50-50 club-50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season.
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SHOHEI OHTANI HAS DONE IT
— MLB (@MLB) September 19, 2024
50 HOME RUNS | 50 STOLEN BASES
HISTORY pic.twitter.com/GRVJUCbpja
"I'm glad the team won," said Ohtani to SportsNetLA after the game. "This was something I wanted to get over with as quickly as possible. It's something I'm going to cherish for a very long time."
To put the historic accomplishment in perspective, when Ohtani hit his 43rd home run and recorded his 43rd stolen base of the 2024 season, he became the only player in MLB history to accomplish these feats. Reaching 50-50 only extends his record, putting him in a class all his own.
As if that weren’t enough, Ohtani’s milestone home run also made him the Dodgers’ all-time single-season home run leader, surpassing the 49 Shawn Green hit in 2001.
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HISTORY!
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 19, 2024
SHOHEI OHTANI IS THE ONLY MEMBER OF THE 50/50 CLUB. pic.twitter.com/F1T5D4n6QD
The opposing team's crowd, fully aware of the magnitude of what they had just witnessed, erupted in chants of "MVP!" Ohtani came out of the dugout for a curtain call on the road in an opposing team's stadium.
5-FOR-5
— MLB (@MLB) September 19, 2024
TWO HOME RUNS
SEVEN RUNS BATTED IN
TWO STOLEN BASES
FIRST CAREER 5-HIT GAME
WHAT A GAME FOR SHOHEI OHTANI TO INVENT THE 50-50 CLUB! pic.twitter.com/hHapLaKZE8
In true Ohtani fashion, he became the sole member of the 50-50 club, by recording one of the single greatest offensive games in MLB history. When all was said and done, Ohtani went 6-for-6 with three home runs, two doubles, two stolen bases, four runs scored, and 10 RBI, also a Dodgers record for a single game.
6-FOR-6
— MLB (@MLB) September 19, 2024
THREE HOME RUNS
10 RUNS BATTED IN
SHOHEI OHTANI HAVE MERCY 🤯 pic.twitter.com/VMJp9OqgjZ
"To be honest with you, I'm the one who's probably the most surprised by this performance," said Ohtani to SportsNetLA. "I have no idea where this came from, but I'm glad I performed well today."
It's a moment baseball fans will never forget. Not only did Ohtani break a franchise record, but he also established himself as arguably the greatest single-season offensive force the game has ever seen.
Stolen base No. 50! pic.twitter.com/bnTj7g8gwF
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 19, 2024
More importantly, the 20-4 victory by the Dodgers clinched a playoff berth for Los Angeles, the first time in Ohtani's career that he has ever reached the postseason. Ohtani's 865 games played were the most among active players in baseball to never reach the playoffs.
"Although I switched uniforms, and came to a new team, my goal was always to reach the playoffs, and I'm glad we were able to make it today," Ohtani told SportsNetLA after being told the Dodgers had clinched a postseason berth for the 12th consecutive season. "I'm glad both personally, and as a team."
Shohei Ohtani’s season vs. MLB’s greatest of all-time
When you compare Ohtani's historic 2024 campaign to some of the best single seasons in MLB history, the accomplishment becomes even more staggering.
Take Babe Ruth’s 1920 season for instance, where the Sultan of Swat hit 54 homers with a mind-boggling .847 slugging percentage. Ruth was revolutionizing the game, showing the world a new way to hit and dominate, but even he never touched the type of dual-threat numbers Ohtani has this year.
Honus Wagner’s 1908 season, which was remarkable for its time, saw the Pirates shortstop leading the league in nearly every offensive category. Wagner was dominant in the Dead Ball Era, but imagine if Wagner could not only lead in OBP and slugging but also swipe 50 bags while crushing 50 homers? It’s a feat unimaginable for any other player—except for Ohtani.
Barry Bonds’ 2001 season set a new bar for power, with his record 73 home runs and a jaw-dropping .863 slugging percentage. Yet even the most feared hitter in baseball history couldn’t put the kind of all-around season Ohtani has together.
Bonds wasn’t stealing bases like this, and he certainly wasn’t performing on the mound, the way Ohtani has the last six seasons, either.
Last season, saw the reigning National League MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves also to the unthinkable: he hit 41 home runs and stole 73 bases, becoming the only member in MLB history of the 40-70 club. That only is incredible, but his power numbers are still at least 10 shy of Ohtani's, and the Dodgers' superstar can still swipe more bags and hit more homers before the season ends in Denver on September 29th.
"I'm happy, relieved, and very respectful to everyone who came before me and has played this sport of baseball," Ohtani told reporters about his historic season and the legends that came before him.
In essence, Ohtani isn’t just setting new records; he’s doing things no one in the long and storied history of Major League Baseball has ever been able to. He’s blending the power of Ruth, the all-around brilliance of Wagner, and the dominance of Bonds, and the speed and power of Acuña into one, singularly unique package.
The greatest offensive season of all time?
Baseball has long been a sport defined by its records. For over a century, names like Ruth, Williams, Mays, and Aaron have echoed through the halls of Cooperstown as the standard-bearers of greatness.
But what Shohei Ohtani has accomplished this season puts him in a class of his own. The 50-50 mark alone is reason to call this the greatest offensive season in history, but when you consider the overall impact he’s had—leading the league in runs, and RBIs, and still managing to dominate on the basepaths—it’s almost unfathomable.
And this doesn't even take into account his contributions on the mound in previous seasons. Despite appearing solely as the designed hitter for the Dodgers this season, Ohtani's ability to dominate on both sides of the ball has not been seen in over a century, not since the days of Ruth in the early 1900s.
But even Ruth, with all his larger-than-life status, was never able to put together a season that combined elite power hitting, and speed, in the way Ohtani has. In fact, in addition to all of the records Ohtani has broken in his first season with the Dodgers, the most eye-popping one could be when he inevitably becomes the first designated hitter in MLB history to win the MVP Award. It would be a whopping third trophy for Ohtani, matching only Frank Robinson, as the only other MLB player to win MVPs in both the American and National League.
Ohtani has surpassed what we once thought was possible in a single MLB season. By breaking both a franchise record and setting a never-before-seen 50-50 mark, Ohtani has reshaped what greatness looks like in baseball. There are legendary seasons that stand the test of time—Ruth in 1920, Bonds in 2001, Acuña in 2023—but Ohtani’s 2024 campaign has set a new standard. He’s in a league of his own.
The road to 50/50.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 19, 2024
Congratulations Shohei on being the only player in MLB history to join the 50/50 club! pic.twitter.com/KLD7Xj4tqf
As Dodgers' third baseman Max Muncy put it days before Ohtani's historical feat, "He’s unbelievable. Every night, I feel like he does something we’ve never seen."
And that’s really the essence of Shohei Ohtani—every single night, he’s rewriting the history books, giving us something we've never seen before, and perhaps will never see again. Ohtani has become not just the greatest player of his generation, but the greatest offensive force in baseball history.
In a world where the impossible seems to have been redefined, Ohtani is showing us all that the ceiling is even higher than we ever imagined. And if his historic 50-50 season is any indication, he’s only just getting started.