Shohei Ohtani's 50/50 season

After signing a record-breaking deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the offseason, the expectations for Shohei Ohtani were higher than ever.

However, it was known that Ohtani was not going to pitch for the whole season.

When he entered the MLB in 2018, questions swirled as to whether he’d be a two-way player and how long that would last.

We’ve seen him at his best as a two-way player from 2021-2023 where he took home two MVPs and would have won the MVP in 2022 if it was not for Aaron Judge’s record-setting home run mark.

Now with a team that has higher expectations each season, he lived up to them and even surpassed them.

Ohtani did something that no player has ever done in MLB History. 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in one season.

As a full-time hitter, the world got to see just how good of a player he can be at the plate.

The season didn’t get off to a hot start for Ohtani and the news surrounding him. He was involved in a gambling scandal that saw him lose a big chunk of money.

However, it was revealed that it was his translator and good friend Ippei Mizuhara who was taking money out of his account and gambling with it.

His season on the field got off to a hot start with two hits and an RBI while adding a stolen base in his home continent.

He wouldn’t get his first home run until April 3 when he hit a solo homer and followed that up with another homer the next day against the Cubs.

Ohtani’s first big mark that made this season special for him was when he joined the 40/40 club with a walk-off grand slam against the Rays in August.

With well over a month left in the season, the 50/50 mark was very realistic.

A three-game road series in Miami is where history was made for the Japanese superstar.

In the final game of the series, Ohtani started off with three hits in three at-bats, but no homers. However, he eclipsed the 50 stolen base mark once he reached base on those at-bats.

In the top of the sixth inning, Ohtani launched home run number 49 to pull within one homer of history.

In only a way Ohtani could, he followed that up with the history-setting homer in the very next inning.

He hit the 50/50 mark with another at-bat likely to come and he somehow managed to one-up the two homers he hit previously.

An absolute moonshot to right field, in one of the most electric calls ever, solidified the greatest offensive performance in a game in MLB history.

Ohtani got a hit in all six of his at-bats while hitting three home runs and bringing home 10 runs.

With only a couple of games left, a 55/55 season is still realistically in reach. Three games remain in the hitter-friendly Coors Field in Colorado where Ohtani sits just two homers shy of the 55/55 mark.

Andrew Deal is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email asd5765@psu.edu.