Shohei Ohtani Becomes MLB’s First 50/50 Player

Entering Thursday’s series finale in Miami, Shohei Ohtani sat at 48 home runs and 49 stolen bases.

To become MLB’s first 50/50 man in the same ballpark where he struck out Mike Trout to win the World Baseball Classic just under two years prior, he’d need to do something he’s only done four times: record a multi-home run game along with a stolen base.

Instead, Ohtani put together a performance that has never before been accomplished, solidifying a season that has hardly seemed fathomable. In six at-bats, the National League MVP favorite picked up six hits, including three home runs, two doubles, 10 RBI and two stolen bases.

You can mix and match the majority of Ohtani’s stat line and it’s probably a first, but his 10 RBIs alone were the most ever in a game for a Dodger.

The hardest hit ball of the day for Ohtani was in his first at-bat, in which he launched a double 114.6 mph off of the top of the wall in right-center. Ohtani quickly swiped third base, evading a tag from Connor Norby to reach the half-century mark in the stolen base department.

In his next two at-bats, Ohtani ripped an RBI single to right field in the second inning and a two-RBI double to left-center in the sixth inning. Already an incredible performance, it started to seem like Ohtani’s 50/50 moment would come over the weekend at Chavez Ravine with the Rockies in town, but Ohtani did not want to wait that long.

“If I’m being honest, it was something I wanted to get over with as soon as possible,” Ohtani said to reporters post-game. “The balls were being exchanged every time I was up to bat.”

As a player approaches a milestone, the league will swap out the baseballs to simplify the authentication process. For some hitters, the disruption of the game flow only adds to the pressure.

Miguel Cabrera went 4-for-31 before launching his 500th home run in 2021, and Aaron Judge went homerless for seven straight games in 2022 before hitting his 61st home run of the season to tie Roger Maris; both players were very open about the mounting pressure the milestones presented.

The Dodgers and Ohtani did not give the pressure much time to mount, as he launched his 49th home run at 111 mph to the upper deck in right-center. An offensive onslaught by the Dodgers brought Ohtani back up to the plate just an inning later with runners on second and third. Still, he was not focused on hitting a home run despite the Dodgers being up by nine runs and his desire to put the milestone behind him.

“Ideally, aiming for a home run for me is not the best way to hit a home run. So really what I focus on is having quality at-bats,” Ohtani said.

Fans bunched up in the right field stands in anticipation of catching a ball that could fetch seven figures at auction. After falling behind 1-2, Ohtani took a Mike Baumann curveball on the outer half out to left field to cinch 50/50. It was his first opposite field home run in September.

The 109.7-mph backside laser was somehow only the fourth hardest hit ball of the evening for Ohtani.

The Marlins waved the white flag in the top of the ninth, going to infielder Vidal Brujan to eat the last inning, and you can guess what the Ohtani did. Home run No. 51 landed where many fans had expected the blast before it to go, in the right field upper deck which Ohtani has become quite accustomed to.

When the final homer left his bat at 113.6 mph, Ohtani became the first hitter in the Statcast era to produce five batted balls north of 105 mph in a single game. His 2,115 feet worth of batted balls were unsurprisingly the greatest combined distance in a game as well, nearly the length of two Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other.

Respect for the Game

A common theme as Ohtani approached the unparalleled plateau was admiration for the sport and its long history from both the Japanese slugger and the Marlins.

“I am happy, relieved and very respectful to the peers and everybody who came before and played this sport of baseball,” Ohtani said to open up his post-game press conference.

On the other side, Marlins manager Skip Schumaker explained why he chose to pitch to Ohtani ahead of the 50th home run with first base open.

“That’s a bad move, baseball-wise, karma-wise, baseball-gods-wise,” said last year’s National League Manager of the Year. “You go after him and see if you can get him out. I think out of respect for the game, we’re going to after him. He hit the home run, that’s just the deal. He’s hit 50 of them. He’s the most talented player I’ve ever seen.”

Schumaker’s decision to pitch to Ohtani did not go unnoticed by the Dodgers as well as fans on social media. In a viral clip prior to the record-setting at bat, the Marlins manager appeared to say “f*ck that” in the dugout when presumably asked whether he would put him on.

“A lot of us looked in the opposing dugout, and I think a lot of the coaches were telling Skip ‘Hey we should walk him right here,'” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. “I have no idea what was actually said over there, but that’s how it looked. Tip of the cap to Skip.”

Now that Ohtani has achieved the unfathomable, he inspires the minds of baseball fans to reimagine what is possible on the baseball diamond.

As he stands at 51 homers and 51 stolen bases with nine games to go, 60/60 probably seems a little far-fetched. But as long as the mound is 60 feet, 6 inches away and the bases are 90 feet apart, it would be foolish to count Ohtani out on just about any achievement. Especially when two-thirds of his remaining games are against the Colorado Rockies.