A year ago, Ronald Acuña Jr. became the founding member of Major League Baseball’s 40/70 club, belting 40 home runs and swiping 70 bases in a historic season.
Shohei Ohtani has now become the founding member of another historic baseball club.
Thanks to his 50th home run this season, the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar is now the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs, and steal 50 bases, in a single season.
Ohtani founded the 50/50 club with this blast Thursday against the Miami Marlins. First, he went deep in the sixth inning for homer No. 49. When he came up in the order again in the seventh inning, Ohtani wasn’t going to miss his chance at history.
The Dodgers superstar stole his 50th base of the season in the top of the first inning against the Marlins on Thursday, swiping third base. While the throw beat him to the bag, a nifty bit of footwork saw Ohtani get his foot on the base before the tag was applied:
Here is another angle of Ohtani’s historic steal:
Ohtani’s 49th home run of the season, which came in the sixth inning on Thursday night, was a 438-foot blast to deep right that reached the upper deck:
That home run also made some franchise history, as it saw Ohtani pull even with Shawn Green for the most home runs in a single season. Green blasted 49 home runs for the Dodgers back during the 2001 season.
Ohtani was not done, as he added No. 51 in the top of the ninth inning off infielder Vidal Bruján, who can now say he too was part of history:
But with his 50th, Ohtani has that Dodgers franchise mark all to his own.
As well as a club where he is the only member.
