Shohei Ohtani has made historical past once more — this time in grand style.
The Dodgers famous person hit a walk-off grand slam towards the Rays on Friday evening for his fortieth residence run, changing into the quickest participant to realize the feat in MLB historical past. He’s the primary 40/40 participant in Dodgers historical past and solely the sixth MLB participant of all time.
The 2-time AL MVP and present NL MVP front-runner entered Friday with 39 residence runs and 39 stolen bases on the season. He swiped a base within the fourth inning after which grounded out in his following two at-bats. However with the rating tied, the bases loaded and two outs within the backside of the ninth inning, Ohtani despatched the primary pitch he noticed from Colin Poche simply over the fence in right-center to provide the Dodgers a 7-3 victory.
Shohei Ohtani hits walk-off grand slam to hitch 40/40 membership
Ohtani joined the 40/40 membership in simply 126 video games, shattering the earlier document of 147 video games by the Washington Nationals’ Alfonso Soriano in 2006.
And with greater than a month remaining within the season, Ohtani might quickly develop into the primary participant in MLB historical past to tally 45 homers and 45 steals in a season.
Listed here are the earlier 40/40 seasons and the way they examine to Ohtani’s historic marketing campaign.
1988: Jose Canseco, Oakland Athletics: .307/.391/.569/.959; 42 HR, 40 SB
This was a banner yr for Canseco. He displayed a mixture of energy and pace hardly ever seen in baseball and delivered the primary 40/40 season in MLB historical past. Furthermore, he additionally hit over .300 for the one time in his profession and led the AL in slugging share. Canseco gained the American League MVP award and finally helped the Athletics attain the World Collection. They got here up simply brief that yr, shedding the sequence 4-1 to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
1996: Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants: .308/.461/.615/1.076; 42 HR, 40 SB
Barry Bonds has loads of information, however the first half of his profession noticed an elite power-speed mixture that youthful followers who noticed him break home-run information weren’t aware about. In 1996, Bonds completed with 40 steals, the third time in his profession he had 40 or extra, to go together with 42 dingers. Nevertheless, regardless of posting the second-ever season with 40 lengthy balls and 40 thefts, he was unable to crack the highest three in MVP voting. Coming off profitable the 1990, 1992 and 1993 MVP’s, the usual was a little bit bit greater for the dynamic outfielder.
Regardless of his unimaginable play, the Giants completed in final place within the NL West and missed the playoffs, a probable motive he didn’t garner extra MVP help.
1998: Álex Rodríguez, Seattle Mariners: .310/.360/.560/.919; 42 HR, 46 SB
The all-time stolen base chief in 40/40 seasons, Rodríguez topped 40 steals for the primary and solely time in his profession when he swiped 46 baggage to go together with swatting 42 large flies. These numbers helped A-Rod earn MVP votes for the second time in his profession however he one way or the other completed simply ninth within the voting regardless of additionally main the AL in hits for the season (213) in addition to being top-five in RBI (124), whole bases (384), runs scored (123) and extra-base hits (82).
Nevertheless, regardless of his greatness, Rodríguez and the Mariners completed underneath .500 and didn’t qualify for the playoffs. A surefire motive for the dearth of MVP votes regardless of the historic season.
2006: Alfonso Soriano, Washington Nationals: .277/.351/.560/.911; 46 HR, 41 SB
The primary participant to ever hit 45 or extra residence runs with 40 or extra steals in a season, Soriano is the newest participant to ship a 40/40 marketing campaign. Much more spectacular, it was his solely season in Washington and his 46 homers are nonetheless a single-season franchise document to today. It additionally occurred to be the one time in his profession that Soriano topped 40 lengthy balls and the final time he even surpassed 35 large flies. Furthermore, it was additionally the final time he reached 40 stolen bases in his profession.
All these numbers and his franchise document, nonetheless, weren’t sufficient to garner MVP help — just like the groups that includes the 2 40/40 campaigns previous Soriano’s, the Nationals did not make the playoffs and completed in final place within the NL East.
2023: Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta Braves: .337/.416/.596/1.012; 41 HR, 73 SB
It turned clear early final season that Acuña would zoom previous 40 steals. The intrigue largely lied in what number of homers he would end with. Nicely, he clubbed his fortieth within the last week of the 2023 common season, quickly after he’d already stolen his seventieth base. That made him the founding member of the 40-70 membership. The earlier excessive for steals amongst members of the 40/40 membership was 46 by Rodríguez in 1998. Acuña had already make historical past earlier within the yr by changing into the primary participant to document 30 residence runs and 60 steals. He was additionally the primary Nationwide League participant to hitch the 40/40 membership in the identical season that his staff made the playoffs.
All of it added as much as an MVP award for Acuña and some of the spectacular particular person seasons of all time.
2024: Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers: .292/.378/.614/.992; 40 HR, 40 SB (33 video games remaining)
Ohtani’s majestic shot Friday evening might need all however locked up his third MVP award. It additionally put him one step nearer to a beforehand unthinkable 50/50 season.
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