Shohei Ohtani achieved the never-before-seen 50-50 season on Sept. 19, with 50 home runs and 50 steals in the same season. That wasn’t the end of his history-making this season.
Ohtani has since notched a few more achievements, including the first 400-total-base season since 2001 and breaking Ichiro Suzuki’s stolen base record among Japanese-born players. He had a long shot at securing the Triple Crown in Sunday’s season finale against the Colorado Rockies but finished behind San Diego Padres infielder Luis Arráez for the batting title.
Ohtani went 1-for-4 in the Dodgers’ 2-1 win Sunday to finish with a .310 batting average. He added a stolen base to extend his historic 50-50 season tally to 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases. His 54 home runs, 134 runs scored and 130 RBI led the National League. He finished second in stolen bases to Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz (67).
The NL hasn’t seen a Triple Crown since Joe Medwick won it in 1937.
Shohei Ohtani’s history-making season
Beyond creating the 50-50 club and having a shot at the Triple Crown, Ohtani has done more than enough to make his first season with the Dodgers worth remembering.
As far as reaching certain numbers in home runs and stolen bases goes, Ohtani has journeyed deep into uncharted territory. In August, he became the sixth player to ever reach 40-40 — joining Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodríguez, Alfonso Soriano and Ronald Acuña Jr. — and he did so in record time. The earliest any of those players had reached both thresholds was Soriano on Sept. 16, 2006.
And Ohtani’s 40th homer was a special one: a walk-off grand slam.
Rodriguez previously held the record for most in both categories, with 42 homers and 46 stolen bases in 1998. Ohtani matched that 42-42 season on his bobblehead night on Aug. 28 and surpassed it two days later on Aug. 30.
Ohtani’s home run count easily surpassed his previous career high of 46 set in 2021, his first MVP year, and he shattered his previous best in steals (26, also in 2021).
The Sept. 19 game was Ohtani’s 13th game of the season with at least one homer and one steal, which tied him with Rickey Henderson in 1986 for the most in MLB history, according to The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya. Ohtani took sole possession of the record a day later, when he hit home run No. 52 and stole base No. 52. He delivered one more such game on Friday, extending his record to 15.
Ohtani’s 50th homer also broke the Dodgers’ single-season homer record, previously held by Shawn Green with 49 in 2001. Ohtani reached 400 total bases this season as well, making him the first player since 2001 to clear that threshold.
And, of course, Ohtani set records for both size of contract ($700 million) and deferred contract money ($680 million) when he signed with the Dodgers before this season.
Ohtani has built his career on being unprecedented. Even in a season in which he wasn’t able to pitch, having undergone UCL surgery at the end of 2023, he still did things MLB has never seen.
