MIAMI — Shohei Ohtani remained stoic as he rounded the bases in Thursday’s ninth inning, after one other prodigious residence run that merely piled on to what had already been one of the vital memorable performances in baseball historical past. However he cracked moments later whereas making his manner by the standard parade of dugout high-fives. He smiled sheepishly, gritted his tooth and rhythmically shrugged his shoulders, as if to convey amazement — embarrassment, even — by his unrelenting dominance.
That residence run, off a place participant inserted right into a recreation that was totally out of hand, was his third of the evening and 51st of the season. It drove in his tenth run, a Los Angeles Dodgers file. And it offered an emphatic conclusion to a recreation that noticed Ohtani develop into the primary participant with 50 residence runs and 50 steals in a season in baseball historical past whereas clinching his first journey to Main League Baseball’s postseason.
“To be trustworthy, I am the one most likely most shocked,” Ohtani mentioned by an interpreter in a tv interview. “I do not know the place this got here from, however I am glad that I carried out nicely at the moment.”
Twenty-seven days in the past, Ohtani reached the 40/40 membership with a walk-off grand slam. He then set a brand new benchmark, whereas on his solution to doubtlessly changing into the primary full-time designated hitter to win an MVP award, with a six-hit, three-homer, two-steal efficiency within the Dodgers’ 20-4 rout of the Miami Marlins.
A Dodgers staff that has spent a complete summer season praising Ohtani’s exploits is operating out of how to elucidate them.
“I virtually cried, to be trustworthy with you,” veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas mentioned. “It was a variety of emotion, due to every thing that occurs behind the scenes that we get to witness each single day. It is a fairly cool second. Everyone knows what he is able to doing, however for him to succeed in that mark — it is fairly wonderful.”
Ohtani started the Dodgers’ seven-game journey three residence runs and two stolen bases away from 50/50 then added just one homer and one steal over the primary six. When the collection finale at LoanDepot Park arrived Thursday, it appeared a protected wager that Ohtani’s milestone would wait till the Dodgers returned residence. However Ohtani opened with a line-drive double off the wall in right-center area then picked up his fiftieth steal by sneaking his foot beneath a tag by Marlins third baseman Connor Norby.
A second-inning single was adopted by stolen base No. 51. Ohtani added a two-run double within the third earlier than being thrown out making an attempt to stretch it to a triple and adopted with a 438-foot residence run into the second deck within the sixth for his forty ninth residence run.
When he got here to bat once more within the seventh, the Dodgers had runners on second and third with two outs. First base was open, and Dodgers gamers started to look into the opposing dugout to see if the Marlins would deliberately stroll Ohtani.
“F— that,” a tv digicam confirmed Marlins supervisor Skip Schumaker saying in his dugout. “I’ve received an excessive amount of respect for this man for that s— to occur.”
Ohtani took a few mighty hacks, however then he locked again in. The depend was 1-2 when Marlins right-hander Mike Baumann went to his knuckle-curve for the second straight time, leaving it close to the center of the strike zone. Ohtani stayed again and dumped the providing into the Recess Sports activities Lounge situated simply past the left-center-field fence, 391 ft away, for residence run No. 50, setting a profession excessive and a Dodgers file.
“For him, understanding that he is proper there on the sting of historical past,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy mentioned, “and to one way or the other keep inside a pitch and hit it on a line to left-center and never attempt to get too large — you recognize he is occupied with hitting a house run, and he hits it 111 mph on a line the opposite manner. It is simply unimaginable.”
The fan who secured the baseball left the ballpark with it in hand, denying Ohtani a well-earned piece of memorabilia however not of the enjoyment it introduced him. Ohtani roared as he left the batter’s field, emphatically slapping arms with first-base coach Clayton McCullough as he made the flip. Afterward, Ohtani mentioned he was “comfortable” and “relieved” to lastly attain the 50/50 milestone.
“I feel he was simply feeling good, feeling horny and simply knew, like, ‘I am about to do that at the moment,'” fellow Dodgers famous person Mookie Betts mentioned. “I imply, he might’ve had 4 homers at the moment. I am puzzled.”
A crowd of 15,548 was readily available to witness Ohtani’s historic feat and serenaded him with a standing ovation, prompting him to spill out of the dugout for a curtain name. Ohtani acknowledged the followers, the pitcher who served up the house run and the Marlins’ dugout — together with Schumaker, who did not wish to get in the way in which of historical past.
“I feel that is a nasty transfer — baseball-wise, karma-wise, baseball-gods-wise,” Schumaker mentioned of deliberately strolling Ohtani. “You go after him and see if you may get him out. I feel out of respect for the sport we have been going to go after him. He hit the house run. That is simply a part of the deal. He is hit 50 of them. He is essentially the most proficient participant I’ve ever seen. He’s doing issues I’ve by no means seen executed within the recreation earlier than, and if he has one other couple extra of those peak years, he is likely to be one of the best ever to play the sport.”
Shortly after the sport, the Dodgers boarded a flight residence to arrange for a weekend collection towards the Colorado Rockies. Their postgame celebration was confined to a champagne toast. Supervisor Dave Roberts acknowledged they’d clinched a playoff spot however reminded them the aim was to as soon as once more take the Nationwide League West — the place they maintain a four-game lead on the San Diego Padres — and finally win the World Collection.
He additionally praised Ohtani, each for making it to his first postseason — he has performed in 866 profession regular-season video games with out reaching the playoffs, essentially the most amongst lively gamers — and for doing what no participant had ever executed. Lots of these within the room wore black, commemorative 50/50 T-shirts that had been printed upfront.
“If I am being trustworthy,” Ohtani mentioned, “it was one thing I needed to recover from [with] as quickly as attainable as a result of the balls have been being exchanged each time I used to be as much as bat.”
Ohtani grew to become the primary participant with three residence runs and two stolen bases in the identical recreation, in accordance with ESPN Analysis. He’s the second participant since at the very least 1901 with six hits in a recreation, together with 5 for additional bases — becoming a member of one other Dodger, Shawn Inexperienced, who homered 4 occasions in 2002. Ohtani can also be the primary participant since RBIs grew to become official in 1920 with 10 RBIs and 5 extra-base hits in the identical recreation and solely the seventh to amass 17 complete bases.
“That must be the best baseball recreation of all time,” Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux mentioned. “It must be. There is not any manner. It is ridiculous. I’ve by no means seen anyone try this even in little leagues, so it is loopy that he is doing that on the highest stage.”
It was solidified within the prime of the ninth, with the Dodgers already main by 11 runs. The Marlins summoned Vidal Brujan, a 26-year-old super-utility participant, and watched him lob 70 mph pitches in an effort to get them to the top of the sport. As Ohtani got here to bat once more, one among his greatest mates on the staff, Teoscar Hernandez, implored him to hit the ball into the right-center-field hole to safe a cycle.
“He mentioned to hit a triple,” Ohtani, talking in English, clarified from the neighboring locker.
“As an alternative he hit it higher deck,” Hernandez mentioned of a ball that finally traveled 440 ft at 114 mph. “That is why we’re not mates anymore.”