Shohei Ohtani records first 50-50 season in MLB history: Dodgers superstar slugs 50 homers, steals 50 bases

Ohtani is only the third player to have a 50-homer season and a 50-steal season at any point in his career

For the first time in Major League Baseball history, a player has hit 50 home runs and stolen 50 bases in the same season. On Thursday, Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani slugged his 49th and 50th home run of the 2024, and also stole his 50th and 51st bases of the season, making him the charter member of the 50-50 club.

Here is Ohtani's historic 50th home run to reach 50-50:

Ohtani went 5 for 5 with two doubles, two home runs, and two stolen bases in Thursday's game against the Miami Marlins (GameTracker). It is only the 20th time in history a player hit two home runs and stole two bases in a game. The last to do it was Ohtani's teammate, Mookie Betts. Betts did it with the Dodgers against the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 23, 2020.

Thursday was also the 13th time this season Ohtani hit a home run and stole a base in the same game. That ties the single-season record set by Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson in 1986.   

Ohtani is not just the first player with 50 homers and 50 steals in a single season. He's only the third player to have a 50-homer season and a 50-steal season at any point in his career, joining Barry Bonds (73 homers in 2001 and 52 steals in 1990) and Brady Anderson (50 homers in 1996 and 53 steals in 1992).

It should be noted the 50 home runs set the Dodgers' single-season franchise record. Here's the leaderboard:

1. Shohei Ohtani, 2024: 50 (and counting)
2. Shawn Green, 2001: 49
3. Adrián Beltré, 2004: 48
4. Cody Bellinger, 2019: 47
5. Several tied with 43

The 50 homers and 51 stolen bases are both career highs for Ohtani. His previous career high in home runs was the 46 hit in 2021, his first MVP season with the Los Angeles Angels. Prior to 2024, Ohtani had never stolen more than 26 bases in a season. Our R.J. Anderson took a deep dive into Ohtani's sudden stolen base prowess recently.

Ohtani's stolen base pace has picked up significantly in recent weeks, suggesting 50-50 had become a goal. He stole five bases in April, eight in May, and only three in June. Ohtani then swiped 12 bags in July, 15 in August, and he's at eight steals in September. He has more steals in the second half (28) than the first half (23) despite 38 fewer games played.

Ohtani joined the 40-40 club with a walk-off grand slam on Aug. 24. He reached 40-40 in only 129 team games, by far the fastest in history. Here are MLB's six 40-40 seasons:

Ohtani is, of course, exclusively hitting this season as he completes his rehab from last September's elbow surgery. A year ago, he slugged a league-leading 44 home runs and threw 132 innings with a 3.14 ERA and 167 strikeouts en route to his second unanimous MVP award. Ohtani is making progress with his rehab and is expected to resume pitching in 2025.

The Dodgers signed Ohtani to a massive 10-year, $700 million contract this past offseason. The contract includes heavy deferrals -- Ohtani will be paid only a $2 million annual salary from 2024-33 -- that lower the present day value to approximately $460 million. That is still a record contract in terms of total value and average annual value.

Los Angeles has nine games remaining in the regular season, giving Ohtani time to pad his home-run and stolen-base totals. The single-season record for stolen bases by a Japanese-born player is 56 by Ichiro Suzuki, set during his Rookie of the Year and MVP season in 2001.