Shohei Ohtani continued his pursuit of a historic 50-50 season Sunday, as his 46th home run of the year helped the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 4-0 victory over the Cleveland Guardians.
The two-time AL MVP’s fifth-inning solo shot brought him to 46 on the season, matching his career best for the Los Angeles Angels in 2021. Coupled with his 46 steals so far this campaign, the accomplishment means Ohtani is closer than ever to achieving a historic 50-50 season.
Ohtani joined the esteemed 40-40 club last month, etching his name alongside Alfonso Soriano, Jose Canseco, Ronald Acuña Jr., Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez, which the previous all-time best on a season being A-Rod’s 43-43 in 1998 as a member of the Seattle Mariners.
After the win against Cleveland, Ohtani maintained that he is trying to put the potential 50-50 out of his mind.
“I’m trying to be less cognizant of it,” he said through interpreter Will Ireton, according to MLB.com. “Just more focused on having good feel at the plate, and whenever possible during the game … that’s what I’m trying to do and focus on.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was less reserved. “I think he wants to be the best player that’s ever played this game, and one way to do that is to do something nobody has ever done, which he has already done,” he said, as per MLB.com. “But you also like round numbers.”
Sunday’s 50-50 pursuit did not get off to the best start for Ohtani, as he was picked off at first by Tanner Bibee to end the third inning.
But Ohtani turned it around in the fifth, crushing a 450-foot home run to right field. After a lengthy review to see if the ball was fair, the homer was confirmed and the Dodgers opened up a two-run lead from which the Guardians would not recover.
Ohtani has 19 regular-season games remaining to find the required four home runs and four stolen bases. Doing so would likely break another record: no MLB player has ever won MVP playing exclusively as a Designated Hitter.
