A historic season is drawing to a close for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, who continues to dazzle fans even after joining the elite 50/50 club with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases, just days away from the playoffs.
Following a standout performance in Thursday night’s victory over the San Diego Padres, Ohtani achieved yet another remarkable milestone. His impressive 3-for-5 performance marked him as the first player in over two decades to surpass 400 total bases in a season, joining an exclusive group of just 19 players in history to achieve this feat.
This marks only the 30th occurrence of reaching such a milestone since 1900, with Ohtani being the first to do so since Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Todd Helton, and Luis Gonzalez all accomplished it in 2001. While times have certainly changed, it remains surprising that no player has matched this achievement since then.
Ohtani’s remarkable 97 extra-base hits have propelled him to 400 total bases, and should he manage to reach three more, he would become the first player to reach 100 extra-base hits since those same four legends did so in 2001.
At this stage of his career, Ohtani is amassing accolades at an impressive rate. Beyond his 400 total bases and the prospect of 100 extra-base hits, there is still another outstanding title within reach.
With a .305 batting average, he is merely seven points behind Luis Arraez for the National League batting title, and should he surpass him, Ohtani would become the first NL player to win the triple crown since Joe Medwick achieved it with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1937.