On 19 September 2024, in Miami, Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball history to reach 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. He finished the year at 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases. He arrived that afternoon two homers and one steal short.
Six hits, three homers, two steals — one afternoon in Miami
Batting leadoff against Marlins starter Edward Cabrera, Ohtani doubled in the first, then swiped third for stolen base number 50. He stole his 51st in the second inning, clearing the running half of the mark early.
The home runs came later. In the sixth he drove a 438-foot shot to right-center; in the seventh he hit the historic blast, an opposite-field drive over the left-field wall against Mike Baumann.
In the ninth, Miami used a position player on the mound, and Ohtani sent a 68 mph pitch 440 feet for his third homer of the day. He collected six hits and set a Dodgers record with 10 RBIs in the 20-4 win, which clinched a playoff berth.
A power-speed line no one his size had touched
His 51st home run broke Shawn Green's franchise record of 49, set in 2001. Before Ohtani, the most steals in a 50-homer season was 24, by Willie Mays and Alex Rodriguez. No player of his build had ever stolen more than 42 bases in a year.
"Happy, relieved and very respectful to the peers and everybody who came before me to play this sport of baseball," Ohtani said afterwards through an interpreter. He called loanDepot park, where he closed out the 2023 World Baseball Classic final, one of his favourite stadiums.
The 50-50 season crowned Ohtani's first year as a full-time Dodgers hitter, and pointed forward. Weeks later he won his first World Series, then a fourth MVP and a repeat title, a two-way career still unfolding.
