Ohtani started the 2024 Major League St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, USA on the 18th (Korea time) as a designated hitter and recorded one hit in three at-bats (one home run), two runs, and one walk and two steals.
Ohtani, who started the season amid a severe slump this year, started to regain the sense of hitting sense in April, and continued to play like a runaway train until last month. Ohtani played in 26 games in April with 37 hits, seven homers, 17 RBIs and a batting average of 0.352 OPS of 1.106, and continued his good performance in May with 29 hits, seven homers and 19 RBIs and a batting average of 0.312 OPS of 0.976. He hit a whopping 12 homers in June, and took strides toward the National League home run champion and MVP title.
He continued his momentum. He did not display sophistication as he did in the early days of this season, but continued his strides in July with 26 hits, six homers, 14 RBIs, 26 runs, 12 steals, a batting average of 0.286 OPS 1.008. However, since his showdown with the Houston Astros on April 29, Ohtani’s batting sense has started to decline noticeably. After completing the last three games in July with no hits, Ohtani has shown signs of getting the hang of it since early August, but has been struggling again. Still, he has something to comfort him about: his slugging ability and speed.
Despite his poor performance in hitting, Ohtani’s power remained strong. Ohtani only had 10 hits during the month of August before the game on Wednesday last week, but five of them were homers. Moreover, Ohtani started to be greedy for 40-40 by stealing second base whenever he had a chance, whether he got a walk or a hit, after hitting the third-highest total in Major League history against the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday.
In addition, Ohtani will be able to achieve 40-40 in the game on Wednesday, and play the least number of games in history. Ohtani stole the 36th base by stealing the second base after getting a walk at his first at-bat as a leadoff hitter in the top of the first inning. In his second at-bat, he successfully stepped on the first base by striking out Andre Palante, a starter for the St. Louis Cardinals, and once again ran towards the second base, he managed to secure his 37th base stealing. In his third at-bat, his long-awaited shot exploded.
Despite sluggish performance, Ohtani did not miss the third knuckle curve of the 1B-1S against Palante. Ohtani swung his bat as if he was waiting for a knuckle curve, and the 111.9-mile (about 180.1 kilometers) bullet-like hit went over the right fence before returning. It was his 38th homer of this season. And the homerun led to two records.
Ohtani, who had homeruns against the 24 teams of the Los Angeles Angels, became the first Japanese to hit homers against the six teams that he had never hit before after moving to the Dodgers. It was not the only game. After moving to the Dodgers, Ohtani became the eighth player to simultaneously hit homeruns and steal bases in a game, which led to the Dodgers franchise record of the most. He now has only two homers and three steals left before joining the 40-40 league. 스포츠토토
Although his batting performance has hit rock bottom in August, Ohtani is expected to achieve the feat faster than any player who has joined the 40-40 club so far. According to Sarah Reims, “MLB.com ,” 147 games were played by Alfonso Soriano in 2006 out of 40-40. Then came Jose Canchenko (1998), Ronald Acuna Jr. (2023) 152 games, Alex Rodriguez (1998) 153 games, and Barry Bonds (1996) 158 games.
Ohtani is recording 38 homers and 37 steals in 121 games. If he completes two homers and three stolen bases in the next 26 games, Ohtani will achieve the minimum game, or 40-40 in the fastest pace in his history. Although his batting average remains at 0.172 in August, he has displayed strength to shoot six home runs, so achieving the minimum of 40-40 games will likely be only a matter of time.
Ohtani received a 10-year, 700 million dollars contract (about 948.1 billion won), the largest ever in professional sports in the world, despite not being able to take the mound in the 2024 season after undergoing elbow surgery last year. And it shows how the “baseball genius” can perform when he focuses on one thing. Ohtani’s presence has created numerous major league “first” histories, and new records are expected to be born endlessly in the future.
“The attacking style itself has not changed significantly. In any game, I think a ball that comes to a strike zone is a ball that can be hit. However, the ball that I thought I hit is not in a good condition, such as a swing and miss, or a foul,” he sighed, but added, “It is 100% my movement. I think it is a technical problem. I will make sure that no matter which pitcher I come, I will have a good quality at-bat.” In how many games will Ohtani achieve his sixth feat with the “minimum number of games”.
