He could reach 50-50 by the ninth inning.
You were close…he hit #50 in the 7th!
He now has 7 ribbies in this game.
Tangential question, but are MLB players and staff allowed to cash in on famous balls the same way a fan could? I had noticed that the 50-50 ball apparently fell into some fenced-off enclosed area. Suppose that a famous home run like Hank Aaron’s, Barry Bonds’, or whatever had somehow been caught by a teammate or opposing player in the bullpen or whatever, are they too allowed to sell it for a million bucks?
Legally…maybe. Practically, no way. MLB would make a claim and could make it stick.
At this point, I think anybody who bets on Ohtani in any fashion had better take the “Over.” It’s safer.
A third home run…? This game has to set some sort of record for offensive efficiency.
6-for-6, three home runs, two stolen bases, 6 hits, 10 ribbies.
And he came within an inch of hitting for the cycle, too.
Well, that last one was hit off of Marlins second baseman Vidal Brujan, who’s pitching because it’s a blowout, but it still counts, of course.
Heh. I just checked on DraftKings on his odds to win the NL MVP. It’s -5000, which means that if you would bet $100.00, and he wins, you would take home…$102.00.
A stat from Twitter:
Since the RBI became official in 1920, no player has ever, OVER THE ENTIRE COURSE OF THEIR CAREER, checked off all of these accomplishments:
a game with 10+ RBI
a game with 6+ hits
a game with 5+ XBH
a game with 3+ HR
a game with 2+ SB
Until Ohtani did all of those things in one single game today.
makes you wonder how next year’s going to go if he pitches also …
He may relief pitch in the playoffs
Ohtani is at 51-51 and the Dodgers will play the lowly Rockies six times in the next nine games. Three of those will be at batter-friendly Coors. It’s a very long shot, but if Ohtani manages to turn in strong performances, 60-60 might be in the conversation.
To be fair, the first four of those are likely to happen in the same game, if they happen at all. 3 home runs gets you close to 5 extra-base hits, which gets you close to 6 hits, which will be a big help in batting in 10 runs.
In a strange way, getting all those extra-base hits makes the 2 stolen bases harder. You can’t steal second after hitting a double.
All good points but one of his steals was a double streal and he stole third
Reading Ohtani’s stat line just blows me away. 51-51. It’s like something in one of my Out Of the Park leagues where I’d wonder about the simulation engine’s grasp of reality.
That said, people saying he’s the GOAT… I mean, Ohtani’s 2024 season is not remotely as great, in terms of how much he’s helping his team win, as Babe Ruth in 1921 or Carl Yastrzemski in 1967 or Mickey Mantle in 1956 or 1957 or a few other seasons. Willie Mays was as valuable as this, or more, basically every year for a span of fifteen years. Overall Ohtani is vastly more valuable when he’s pitching.
What Ohtani is, though, is just visually spectacular There really has been no one like him even if, technically, Willie Mays was clearly a greater overall player.
52-52 for Ohtani, as of tonight.
And, with five of the Dodgers’ remaining eight games against the Rockies – which have, quite possibly, the weakest pitching staff in baseball (dead last in ERA and WHIP) – he could well start to threaten 60 in either category.
I was about to point out that they’ll be playing in LA and not Denver, but, amazingly, they’ve been almost as bad on the road than at home, 1 mile up.
Coke to RickJay in the White Sox thread.
Today and tomorrow in LA, then the final series of the year next weekend in Denver. The other three games next week are vs the Padres in LA.
One has to think Ohtani’s baserunning and overalls will drop next year when he’s back to pitching, even though it could make him an much more valuable player.
He was actually just as good a hitter last year. Higher OBP. At bat for at bat, anyway, he was just as great. But he couldn’t play as much, because of the wear and tear of being a pitcher; he will finish this year well past 100 more times at bat than last year. And he only tried to steal 26 times.
Incidentally yesterday was the 14th game this season in which he both homered and stole a base… apparently, that’s a new record. Rickey Henderson held the previous record, unsurprisingly.
Rickey would have had a 200 stolen-base season under the new rules.