Shohei Ohtani inched closer to joining the exclusive 50-50 club as he belted his National League-leading 47th home run in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 10-8 win over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.
That set a new career high for Ohtani, which previously was the 46 he hit while with the Los Angeles Angels in 2021.
Ohtani’s career-best home run was an impressive line drive that would not have left the park for most players, showing off his unique power that few can compare to.
“For him to hit the ball 118 mph at that degree, it’s usually a double. But for Shohei, it’s a home run. He’s playing tremendous baseball. You can see he’s picking us up big time,” manager Dave Roberts said after the game.
Ohtani now has 218 home runs in his MLB career, which is tied with Shin-Soo Choo for the most by an Asian-born player. Ohtani is two home runs away from tying Shawn Green for the most home runs in a season by a Dodgers player.
Ohtani also stole his 48th stolen base of the season on Wednesday, which trails only Cincinnati Reds All-Star Elly De La Cruz’s 64 for the most in baseball.
It was Ohtani’s 12th game with at least one home and one stolen base this year. That trails only Rickey Henderson’s MLB record of 13 such games set during the 1986 season.
Perhaps most unique about Ohtani’s historic season is that he has an even split of 26 home runs and 26 stolen bases at Dodger Stadium. He already became the first player in MLB history to have at least 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases home or away.
The Dodgers have 16 games remaining on their regular-season schedule for Ohtani to continue setting records. He’s hitting .292/.375/.617 with 84 extra-base hits and 104 RBI in 143 games this year.
Dave Roberts won’t rest Shohei Ohtani during 50-50 chase
Ohtani has played in all but three of the Dodgers’ 146 games this season, and that playing time doesn’t seem likely to tail off anytime soon. Roberts recently indicated that he wouldn’t rest the two-way star as long as he is chasing history.
If Ohtani reaches the 50-50 milestone before the season ends, then perhaps a day or two off could be in the works. But for the meantime, Ohtani is locked into chasing history.
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