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Shohei Ohtani is now four home runs and four stolen bases from becoming Major League Baseball’s first 50-50 player.
The Los Angeles Dodgers superstar hit his 46th homer of the season in Sunday’s 4-0 win over the Cleveland Guardians. Pitcher Tanner Bibee hung a changeup high in the middle of the strike zone in the fifth inning and Ohtani crushed it down the right-field line for a 2–0 lead.
Umpires reviewed the play to see if Ohtani’s fly ball, which traveled 450 feet, was hit fair. Overturning the call on the field might have resulted in a revolt among a sparse Dodger Stadium crowd, but it was correctly upheld.
Ohtani finished the day batting 2-for-4, giving him a .291 average and .992 OPS for the season. But it’s his home runs and stolen bases that have everyone’s attention.
With 46 home runs, Ohtani matches his career-high, first reaching that number in 2021. He also stole 26 bases that season, his previous high in that category. Yet he was also caught stealing 10 times compared to only four this season.
Since hitting his 43rd home run and stealing his 46th base, Ohtani is making history with each subsequent long ball and steal. No player has hit more than 42 homers and stolen 46 bases in a single season since Alex Rodríguez did so in 1998. Last year, Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. posted a 40-70 season.
No player may steal that many bases while hitting that many home runs again. But Ohtani could become the first to reach 50 in both categories. And the Dodgers have 19 more games remaining on their regular-season schedule for Ohtani to achieve those numbers.
The Dodgers have won seven of their past 10 games and have a 30-16 record since the All-Star break, giving them a 5 1/2 game lead over the San Diego Padres and seven over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West.