Inside The Dodgers

Shohei Ohtani News: Dodgers Star Achieves Milestone Not Accomplished Since 2001

J.P. Hoornstra|
Sep 26, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) grounds out in the fourth inning against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Sep 26, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) grounds out in the fourth inning against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

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Los Angeles Dodgers

Chalk up another milestone in Shohei Ohtani's remarkable 2024 season.

In the Dodgers' division-title-clinching, 7-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Thursday, Ohtani achieved a feat no major league player has accomplished since 2001.

As noted by Sarah Langs of MLB, Ohtani became the first player with 400 or more total bases in a single season since Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Luis Gonzalez and Todd Helton did so in 2001.

Ohtani's accomplishment is perhaps more impressive.

The 2001 season was a different era, when the use of performance-enhancing drugs proliferated, causing hitters and their statistics to balloon. Ohtani has done all of this in his first year with a new team in a new ballpark, and the Dodgers couldn't be happier with their 10-year, $700 million investment.

Babe Herman has the franchise record for stolen bases, with 416 in 1930. That was another era, too. Ohtani has three games remaining to match or surpass Brooklyn's "Babe." The Dodgers visit the Colorado Rockies for their final regular-season series Friday.

Herman set the Dodgers' single-season record for extra-base hits in 1930, with 94, but Ohtani has since surpassed that record as well.

The two-way star has been limited to DH duties while he rehabilitates his elbow from surgery. That hasn't stopped Ohtani from putting up a league-leading 8.8 Wins Above Replacement, a number unheard of for a player who doesn't play in the field.

Ohtani practically locked up the National League MVP award on Sept. 19 in Miami. In the Dodgers' 20-4 win over the Marlins, Ohtani delivered one of the best individual games in major league history by going 6-for-6 with three home runs, 10 RBIs, and two stolen bases.

In the process, Ohtani became the first player known to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season in major league history.

Ohtani has 53 home runs, 56 stolen bases and a .305 batting average. He leads the NL in home runs and RBIs (126), runs (131), on-base percentage (.387), slugging (.643) and OPS (1.030).

Ohtani had three hits and drove in the go-ahead run in the Dodgers' 7-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Thursday at Dodger Stadium.

The occasion of clinching the first division title Ohtani has enjoyed in seven major league seasons certainly left him feeling inspired. On the field after the game, Ohtani celebrated on the field with his wife, Mamiko, and his dog, Decoy.

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J.P. Hoornstra
J.P. HOORNSTRA

J.P. Hoornstra is an On SI Contributor. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers in California, J.P. covered MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Angels (occasionally of Anaheim) from 2012-23 for the Southern California News Group. His first book, The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All-Time, published in 2015. In 2016, he won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for breaking news coverage. He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.

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