With a 40-40 season in sight, just one home run away from history, Shohei Ohtani stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded, two outs, and the Los Angeles Dodgers tied with the Tampa Bay Rays.
On the first pitch he saw, Ohtani blasted a walk-off grand slam, clinching the Dodgers a win and giving Ohtani his historic 40-40 season.
That will go down as one of the most memorable home runs during a regular season of not just Dodgers history, but also MLB history. It will be hard for Ohtani to top that moment, but if anyone can, it’s him.
Ohtani already has his sights on what would be an even more memorable moment for him, winning a World Series with the Dodgers, he told David Vassegh of AM 570 L.A. Sports:
“Obviously, today was one of my top memorable moments as a Dodger. Hopefully I will be able to top this moment by winning in the postseason, winning the World Series.”
Ohtani has never played in the postseason after six years with the Los Angeles Angels, which was a big reason he decided to sign with the Dodgers. Playing October baseball and winning championships is his primary goal, and Ohtani backed that up by deferring $68 million of his salary per season to give the Dodgers extra financial flexibility to add more talent.
The biggest stage he played on was the 2023 World Baseball Classic, where he led Team Japan to a gold medal, defeating Team USA with Ohtani striking out Mike Trout to end the game.
Even with others having reached the milestone 40-40 season before Ohtani, he did it better than everyone else. Of the six players who have achieved the milestone, Ohtani became the fastest player in MLB history to reach it, needing just 126 games.
Alfonso Soriano was the previous quickest to do it, needed 147 games to accomplish the feat.
Ohtani is also on pace to reach the 50-50 mark, which would make him the first player in MLB history to accomplish that. No player has even had a 45-45 season, which Ohtani will surely get to.
If Ohtani is able to reach a 50-50 season, he would set numerous other records along the way, including the Dodgers franchise record for home runs in a season, which is currently held by Shawn Green with 49. He would also overtake Shin-Soo Choo (218) for the most home runs by an Asian-born player in MLB history.
Shohei Ohtani had storybook 40th home run
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has had a front row seat to all Ohtani has showcased in his first season with the team, and that was no different when Ohtani joined the 40-40 club with a walk-off grand slam in a perfect moment.
“I mean, 40-40 in the same game, walk-off grand slam,” Roberts said. “I always say you I always say that you can’t script a game, but man, if there was a script, that couldn’t have been written any better. Shohei just never ceases to amaze.”
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