LOS ANGELES — The home crowd roars at every Shohei Othani ball hit into the air, no matter the distance. It raises its volume in anticipation every time Ohtani breaks away on another stolen base attempt.
But like parents sending their kid off to college, Dodgers fans will have to be content in knowing the biggest step in the process will have to happen away from home.
The Dodgers begin a seven-game road trip on Friday with four games in Atlanta and three more in Miami. The odds of Ohtani still being in search of 50-50 when the team returns home to face the Colorado Rockies on Sept. 20 are as unlikely as a well-kept dorm room.
Ohtani’s current status: 47 home runs and 48 stolen bases.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said this week that he hoped Ohtani would lock down his 50-50 season over the final homestand of the season. He now is resigned to that not happening.
“The way he’s going right now, probably not,” Roberts conceded. “Those fans in Miami might be in for a treat. But we’ll see. Obviously, I hope he does it, regardless of where, but it would be nice to be at home.”
There is always the chance that history goes down in Atlanta. Ohtani has hit as many as three home runs in a four-game span on multiple occasions, the most recent at the end of August. The first time he did it this year, the Braves and Marlins were involved when he hit four home runs in a three-game stretch May 4-6.
Still, history in South Florida seems the likeliest scenario. For any memorabilia prospectors out there, seats beyond the right field wall at Miami for all three games of next week’s series against the Dodgers were selling Thursday for as little as $8 per ticket for a pair.
As he closes in on the first 50-home run, 50-stolen base season in MLB history, Ohtani will continue his fervent studies.
“I see all the work he puts in,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said Wednesday, not long after Ohtani delivered his most recent home run and stolen base. “It’s not like he goes out there and it’s too easy for him. He works harder than anybody. He scouts really hard and all that so it’s fun to see him go out there. He’s playing a different game so it’s fun to see.”
As Ohtani has appeared to make 50-50 his mission, he has not only increased the frequency with which he steals bases, his success rate has soared. Going back to July 23, Ohtani has been successful in his last 25 stolen base attempts.
When his home run Wednesday shot off his bat with a vapor trail, it screamed toward the right field seats at 118.1 mph.
“I feel sorry for the fan who tried to catch it,” Muncy said.
It isn’t even Ohtani’s hardest-hit ball this season. He had one at 119.2 mph off the bat on a single in Toronto earlier in the season. Even Blue Jays fans, upset that Ohtani didn’t choose them in free agency, let out an audible gasp.
Ohtani’s hard-hit percentage this season is 59.6, the highest of his career. His average exit velocity is 95.6 mph, also a career best.
“Each day he does something and you’re like, ‘I’ve never seen somebody do that before,’” said Tommy Edman, one of the newest Dodgers, who has been with the team for barely a month and has enjoyed every bit of the Ohtani spectacle.
Edman has even started to join in the fun, with a pair of home runs in each of his past two games. And yet, Edman can’t hide his amazement with what Ohtani is doing.
“The day game on Sunday, the ball he hit off the (former Stadium Club) glass in right field, and then (Wednesday) that was one of the lowest (launch angle) home runs I think I have ever seen. … He just crushes the ball. And to do that and steal as many bases as he is, that’s pretty incredible.”
Don’t get used to the stolen bases, Roberts has warned. Ohtani’s willingness to run, with unprecedented frequency, has roots in his offseason elbow surgery. His 48 steals crush his previous high of 26 with the Angels during one of his two American League MVP seasons in 2021.
“He’s not pitching this year so I think he is emptying the tank offensively,” Roberts said. “I do think the power, the on-base (percentage), the average, I think he can do that as a pitcher. He’s done something pretty similar like that with his OPS. But as far as the stolen bases go, I’m not sure about that.”
And even if Ohtani does reach the 50-50 milestone on the road, he might continue to put on a show back home, even if the Dodgers wrap up a playoff spot or a National League West title with games to spare.
Seemingly the favorite to earn NL MVP honors, even as a designated hitter, a media member out of New York has taken to stumping for the New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor, who is having a fine season in his own right.
There has even been a claim from the East Coast of “a well-known West Coast bias” with award voting. That bias must have taken a year off when the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge won the AL MVP in 2022 with 28 first-place votes, while Ohtani received just two. Ohtani was productive on offense that year and also finished fourth in AL Cy Young voting.
“That’s a first,” Roberts said to laughter all around. “That’s not gonna age well. West Coast bias? Right.”