It seemed inevitable, something that seemed impossible just a few months ago. 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in the same season. I hate to tell you how many players didn’t accomplish that during an entire career. The 50 homers part of it? Nobody in Dodgers history had ever reached that total. When the Japanese superstar hit that lofty level he broke the team’s all time mark of 49 set by Shawn Green in 2001, in fact since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958 only 5 players hit as many as 40 in a season, Mikie Piazza 40 in 1997, Shawn Green again with 42 in 2002, Gary Sheffield 43 in 2000, Cody Bellinger 47 in 2019 and Adrian Beltre 48 in 2004, that’s the list in 67 seasons in sunny California.
Now about those stolen bases. How many Los Angeles Dodgers have as many as 50 in a season? Maury Wills, Davey Lopes, Juan Pierre, Dee Strange-Gordon and Steve Sax, That’s that list. 67 years in L.A. and there are 5 of each to accomplish 50 homers and 5 more to steal 50 bags and you can plainly see there are no matching seasons of 50 and 50 even if not in the same season. But 50 of each in the same season is unfathomable and most likely not to be done again, not even by King Shohei.
May 13, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) steals third base on an missed catch error by San Francisco Giants shortstop Casey Schmitt (not pictured) during the third inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images
Five seems to be the number. the 40/40 club, had that many members previously. Jose Canseco the first to reach it with the Athletics in 1988, Barry Bonds with the Giants in 1996. In 1973 with those same Giants, Barry’s dad Bobby had 39 homers and 43 steals and had a home run rained out during the season, something that would no longer occur so he would have been the first. Alex Rodriguez with the Mariners in ’98, Alfonso Soriano with the Nationals in 2006 and Ronald Acuna Jr with the Braves last season.
And while Acuna also has the talent to do this kind of thing, it’s not likely that either he nor Ohtani will even give it a go in the future. Ohtani’s return to pitching which could even come in this post season after a year rehabbing his injured right wing, will probably prevent him from running wild in the future with the need to recover between pitching starts. And Acuna Jr. coming off another blown out knee might curtail his running ways to preserve his health. We may have witnessed a once in a lifetime feat from a rare out of this world athlete, who finishes the day with perhaps the best game ever by a Dodgers as he goes 6 for 6 with 3 homers and 10 RBI, CRAZY!
