It is shocking and yet still not surprising that Shohei Ohtani, even in a year where he is limited to showing dominance only at the plate instead of as a dual pitching and hitting threat, has still found a way to transcend the sport of baseball.
In his first year with the Dodgers, while limited to a designated hitter role while he recovers from Tommy John surgery, Ohtani on Thursday had one of the greatest days at the plate in MLB history: 6-for-6 with three home runs, two stolen bases, two doubles, 17 total bases and 10 runs batted in.
In the process, he became baseball’s first member of the 50-50 club — at least that many homers and steals in a season — and added one more in each category for good measure. Oh, and the Dodgers clinched a playoff spot with the victory.
The modern-day Babe Ruth, who sports a 3.01 career ERA in 86 starts and finished fourth in the AL Cy Young voting in 2022, could be well on his way to a third MVP award in four seasons.
As someone who remembers when entering the 30-30 club was a big deal and followed Jose Canseco’s successful quest to topple the 40-40 barrier, it is almost unfathomable to conceive of a 50-50 season — something I talked about on Friday’s Daily Delivery podcast.
Almost as amazing: How the Twins and Vikings have so quickly entered the realm of 50-50 clubs, too.
Barely more than a week ago, the Twins had a better than 90% chance of reaching the postseason. They were slumping, sure, but nobody was putting any heat on them in the wild-card race.
That changed in a hurry. Detroit continued a month-plus surge, and now the Tigers — 11 games back of the Twins a little more than a month ago — have an identical 80-73 record with nine games to play.
