Shohei Ohtani’s 50-50 is just the latest chapter in an extraordinary season for the Los Angeles Dodgers star

By CNN Newsource

Published September 21, 2024 2:30 am

By George Ramsay, CNN

(CNN) — It was perhaps fitting that Shohei Ohtani should achieve one of baseball’s most remarkable feats with an out-of-this-world performance.

In a game that featured a career-high three home runs and 10 RBIs, the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar went where no player has gone before on Thursday, hitting his 50th homer of the season and stealing his 50th base – in fact, racking up his 51st of each stat by the end of the contest.

A three-run homer in the top of the seventh against the Miami Marlins got Major League Baseball’s 50-50 club up and running, with Ohtani – who finished the game 6-for-6 – its inaugural member.

“It was something that I wanted to get over as quickly as possible,” said the two-time American League MVP having been inching closer to the historic 50-50 mark for several weeks. “It’s something that I’m going to cherish for a very long time.”

The 20-4 victory over the Marlins also guaranteed the Dodgers a spot in the playoffs, which will coincidentally be Ohtani’s first appearance in the postseason after missing out in each of his six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels.

That will be the latest milestone in what has been – to put it mildly – an eventful few months in the Japanese star’s career.

An incredible journey to eternity

His arrival at the Dodges came with great fanfare amid a record-breaking $700 million, 10-year contract – reportedly the most expensive in North American sports history. It also comfortably eclipsed the MLB’s next-largest free agent deal – nine years and $360 million – which Aaron Judge signed with the New York Yankees in 2023.

However, Ohtani is deferring more than 97% of his contract until after the end of the 10-year period, for now only taking home $2 million a year. Backloading the contract reduces his personal tax liability while also moderating the Dodgers’ competitive balance tax and cash-flow burdens.

For LA, winner of 10 of the last 11 division titles in the National League West, securing the services of one of baseball’s rarest and best ever talents was a seismic moment, and Ohtani has been expected to propel the franchise to greater heights.

Not many would have expected the 30-year-old to have had quite such a prolific first season with the team, even based on his usual lofty standards, particularly with what he went through physically.

Ohtani underwent elbow surgery in September 2023 – a year to the day before he opened the 50-50 club – and was advised that he likely wouldn’t be able to pitch until 2025; on paper, greatly reducing the effectiveness of the transcendent two-way star.

But despite being kept away from the mound, Ohtani has had a phenomenal debut season with the Dodgers. He has blasted a franchise-record 51 home runs – passing Shawn Green on Thursday for the most in a single campaign – with a .294 batting average, leading the Dodgers to a 91-62 record and the top spot in the NL West with nine games remaining in the regular season.

Prior to Ohtani, the players next closest to achieving a 50-50 season were the Atlanta Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr., who stole 73 bases and hit 41 home runs in 2023, and Alex Rodriguez, who hit 42 home runs and stole 46 bases with the Seattle Mariners in 1998.

The Japanese star also became the fastest player in MLB history to reach the 40-40 mark last month, doing so in the Dodgers’ 129th game of the season, and in July became only the third player in franchise history to join the 30-30 club after Raul Mondesi and Matt Kemp.

Even without pitching this season, Ohtani is still the odds-on favorite to win the NL MVP award, potentially the first to do so having played solely as a designated hitter (DH). The two-way star has been working diligently on his rehab and last month threw off a mound in practice for the first time since his elbow surgery, sparking rumors and hopes that he might be able to pitch in the playoffs.

“This game has been around for a long time,” Dodgers general manager Dave Roberts said after Ohtani reached 50/50, “and to do something that’s never been done – he’s one of one. He couldn’t be a more talented player, he couldn’t be more humble.”

Japanese tourists have been flooding to the City of Angels for a chance to watch one of their country’s biggest stars, and on Friday, government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi offered his congratulations.

“We sincerely hope Mr. Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” Hayashi told a press conference.

To keep pace with the booming interest from Asia, the Dodgers also host Japanese language stadiums tours, serve a range of Japanese food, and have attracted dozens of Japanese sponsors.

A betrayal off the field

All the while, Ohtani’s record-breaking season on the diamond has come against the backdrop of off-field challenges.

In June, his longtime interpreter and friend Ippei Mizuhara pleaded guilty in court to fraud and tax charges for stealing almost $17 million from Ohtani to pay off gambling debts. The revelation came just hours after the slugger’s first appearance for the Dodgers during the opening game of the MLB season in South Korea.

According to the US Department of Justice, Mizuhara accessed Ohtani’s bank account and then changed the account’s security protocols without permission, on top of calling the bank and impersonating Ohtani on approximately 24 occasions.

Speculation swirled for weeks after the revelation of Mizuhara’s gambling problem, and questions were asked of how much Ohtani knew about the situation.

Both the baseball phenom and Mizuhara – whose sentencing is scheduled for October 25 – maintained that Ohtani was unaware of the gambling addiction and theft. When Mizuhara pleaded guilty to the charges, Ohtani said that he had closure.

“This has been a uniquely challenging time, so I am especially grateful for my support team – my family, agent, agency, lawyers and advisors along with the entire Dodger organization, who showed endless support throughout this process,” he explained in a statement. “It’s time to close this chapter, move on and continue to focus on playing and winning ballgames.”

The incident now feels like a lifetime ago, such has been the whirlwind nature of Ohtani’s first season as a Dodger. With his sensational performances at the plate – the most impressive being the history-making display on Thursday – the focus has returned to his unique and extraordinary talent on the field.

As a 12th-straight playoff berth looms for the Dodgers, the team’s World Series aspirations are only gathering pace. Ohtani is at the forefront of that charge, and baseball fans around the world will be watching expectantly to see what more history he could achieve.

CNN’s Issy Ronald, Homero De la Fuente and Natasha Chen contributed to reporting.

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