Shohei Ohtani Ties Dodgers Record, Moves Closer to 50-50
Shohei Ohtani joined Shawn Green atop the Los Angeles Dodgers record book with his 49th home run of the season Thursday against the Miami Marlins.
It’s the second home run in this series for Ohtani, who was coming off a four-game series against the Atlanta Braves without a long ball.
The franchise record has been standing since 2001. Few have come close to tying but nobody did it until now.
Green previously spoke with JP Hoornstra of Dodgers Nation about his record potentially falling.
“I think Ohtani is the greatest baseball player who ever lived. If he retired today he’d be the greatest baseball player,” Green said in a telephone interview. “And so for me, it’s been definitely an honor to hold the most home runs in a season by a Dodger. If it’s going to get broken, why not be broken by the greatest player who ever lived?”
In the top of the sixth inning, Ohtani got hold of a George Soriano slider and skied it to right field for the record-tying shot.
With the big fly, Ohtani sits one shy of 50 home runs. He swiped his 50th stolen base of the season in the first inning, and his 51st one inning later.
“No pressure,” Ohtani said through an interpreter after Tuesday’s game. “Just trying to maintain quality at-bats regardless of the situation. It’s something I’ve been trying to do over the course of the entire season.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has noticed that the 50-50 milestone is “front of mind” for Ohtani, though it doesn’t seem to be adding pressure. Roberts pointed out that Ohtani has been pulling more pitches lately, leading to more predetermined swings instead of waiting for pitches deeper in the zone.
“And I do feel that’s somewhat natural,” Roberts said. “I just think he wants to get it over with — but with the fact that he’s still trying to compete and help us win baseball games.”
Photo Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
Have you subscribed to our YouTube Channel yet? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, live streams, and more!
