Shohei Ohtani Makes History as First Player in the 50-50 Club!

Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles Dodgers hitter, performed one of the biggest feats in MLB history on Thursday, joining the 50-50 club against the Miami Marlins.

A 50-50 season; therefore, a season in which a baseball player manages to hit 50 or more home runs in addition to stealing 50 bases.

Ohtani, who is currently on pace to become the first MLB player ever to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season, got his 50th home run of the season with a two-run shot in the seventh inning after swiping his 50th and 51st bases in the game.

The two-way sensation of Japan made the Dodgers get a 14-3 lead with his historic home run. Not surprisingly, he homered the next time he was at bat in the 9th inning and this gave him three homers in the match. He set an amazing record of adding two doubles for forty-five yards each, a single for thirty yards, and three home run hits for seventy-five yards each. Besides stealing two important bases, this was one of the best offense displays of the season by any player.

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It was the first three-homer game for Ohtani as well as the first 10 RBI game of his career.

Balls hit on the Miami grounds ended on the Dodgers side, making the score 20-4 for the Dodgers with play-off entry.

It was evident that Shohei Ohtani was as happy as any of his teammates since he concluded with the following statement to the media after the game: “I’m glad that the team won.” “It was something that I look forward to getting over as soon as possible and you know it’s something that I’m going to look back on for the rest of my life.”

Even in Ohtani’s home country of Japan, newspaper circulations came up with specials with the intent of immediately making the news known.

Top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said: “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our hearts.”

“We are still waiting for a bright future from Mr. Ohtani, who has been recording one achievement after another and opening a new epoch,” the official said to the press  during a press conference.

Ohtani began the day with a double in the first inning and to it added his 50th bag steal of the season. Before hitting a single one frame later, Ohtani stole his 51st base. He doubled the next time up, however, was out at third, trying to take second base on the play to complete a triple.

Mashed his 49th homer in the sixth off Marlins reliever George Soriano, a two-run shot to the second deck of right center field at LoanDepot Park got him within one of the 50-50 club.

Next half inning, Ohtani homered again for the third time of the game and 50th of the season off reliever Mike Baumann. And then, without even realizing that he had been the one to hit the ball, he briefly posed in front of the plate as the ball soared into the stands, then raced joyfully to first base, shouting. After touching all four bases and being congratulated by his teammates from the Dodgers side, Ohtani was seen walking out of the Dodgers’ dugout to enjoy his… I want to say deserved but that’s usually reserved for home games, his curtain call.

But his job was not done yet as he hit a 51st homer in the ninth inning, thus surpassing Shawn Green and writing his name down as the Dodgers record holders for most home runs in a single season.

Asked about his day at the plate, Ohtani said, “Honestly, I can probably say that I am more shocked than anyone else here. I never expected it and I am just happy that I did well today.”

The records held to date nearest to the 50-50 status were of Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves, who scored 73 bases and 41 home runs in 2023, and of Alex Rodriguez of the Seattle Mariners, who scored 42 home runs and 46 bases in 1998.

Ohtani played for six seasons with the Angels in a postseason as a hitter and a pitcher and he had won the American League Most Valuable Player twice. Last off-season, he inked a record $700 million for a decade with the Dodgers for a freelancer.

The historic feat, however, has been achieved after Ohtani struggled to begin his tenure at the Dodgers in his personal capacity. His longtime interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, confessed to fraud and tax charges in June, which revealed that he embezzled almost $17 million from the slugger to cover gambling losses; this was after Ohtani had played his first Dodgers game during the season-opening game in South Korea.

There was gossip for weeks surrounding Ohtani after the disclosure of Mizuhara’s gambling, as the world wanted to know what the celebrity knew and when he was aware of it. Saying that he was unaware of Mizuhara’s gambling debts and theft, Ohtani, along with the man himself, declared they were clean-shaven. Ohtani said, Indeed, when Mizuhara pleaded guilty, he felt relieved, knowing that he has closure from the sad revelation.

“This has been a very special period of time. All I want to thank is my support team—my family, my agent, my agency, my lawyers and advisors, and the rest of the Dodger organization—they stand behind me through this entire process. I think we need to put an end to this and continue to do the right thing and prepare myself for playing and winning baseball games.”

He is currently the favorite to not only win the NL MVP award but even do that while not pitching this season due to offseason elbow surgery. He has only 51 home runs but could hit.294 this season to go along with the Dodgers team that finished the season with a record of 91-62 and a first-place finish in the NL West division.

Beating Miami means that the Dodgers are sure to play in the playoffs and for Ohtani, this is the first time he will get to play in October. And over Ohtani’s stint as an Angel, those teams never got to the postseason even once.

Speaking to the media after the game, he noted that while he changed the uniform and joined a new team, his intention was to be in the playoffs and he was happy that they achieved it both personally and as a team today.