By Cary Osborne
Wearing his Dodger road grays and with his two hands raised, Shohei Ohtani created one of the most iconic images of his career.
Ohtani had just hit his 50th home run of the season on Sept. 19, 2024, in Miami in a 6-for-6 game. He also stole his 50th base of the season earlier that afternoon.
It took the eighth-oldest team in Major League Baseball 135 seasons to have its first 50-home-run hitter. It took the Major Leagues 149 seasons to have its first 50/50 player.
Ohtani’s 2024 was one of the most remarkable in MLB history. It culminated in a National League MVP award.
So how could he follow it up?
With this:
“I think in totality (2025 is) a better season,” said manager Dave Roberts.
This year saw a resumption of Ohtani the two-way anomaly — game-changing designated hitter and elite starting pitcher.
Ohtani, who started 86 games with the Angels from 2018–2023, didn’t pitch at all in 2024 after right elbow surgery in September 2023. He had left shoulder surgery in November 2024 after tearing his labrum in the World Series.
That makes what he has accomplished in 2025 even more astonishing.
The season after Ohtani created the 50/50 Club with 54 homers and 59 stolen bases, the 31-year-old created a new 50/50 club — he hit 55 home runs and surpassed 50 strikeouts as a pitcher. He ended the regular season with 62 strikeouts. He is the first player in Major League history with at least 50 pitching strikeouts and 50 home runs in the same season.
After almost two years away from pitching in a Major League game, Ohtani returned to the mound and once again touched 100 mph with regularity. He made 14 starts and struck out 62 batters in 47 innings. Ohtani had a 2.87 ERA. He allowed no runs over his last three starts of the season.
But remove pitching from the equation. If it were just Ohtani the hitter, he followed arguably the greatest season ever by a Dodger hitter with one of the greatest seasons ever by a Dodger hitter.
Ohtani’s 55 home runs broke the franchise record he set in 2024. His 146 runs scored were a new Los Angeles Dodger record, again besting his record set in 2024 of 134.
Ohtani led the NL in OPS (1.014), slugging (.622), OPS+ (179), intentional walks (20), and he led the Majors with 380 total bases. He also set a career high with 109 walks.
Ohtani now owns the eighth Major League season with at least 50 home runs, 145 runs and 100 RBI. It’s the second since 1932. Sammy Sosa in 2001 was the last. Ohtani’s season is the only one of the eight with 20 stolen bases.
But he did pitch, making this an unprecedented season in Dodger history.
Ohtani’s first start this season was June 16, with one inning against San Diego.
His first start on the mound in August produced the package of eight strikeouts in four innings and a home run in the batter’s box.
His next time on the bump, he became the first starting pitcher since at least 1900 to hit a leadoff triple. He then struck out two batters in the first inning.
Ohtani raised the bar on Sept. 16. He no-hit the Philadelphia Phillies over five innings. The NL East champion Phillies came into the game as the top offense in the Majors in September.
Ohtani also homered in the eighth inning — his 50th of 2025.
It was the single-game embodiment of Ohtani’s singular season — one of the most remarkable in MLB history, again.
A singular Shohei Ohtani season was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.