The Greatest Single Game Performance Ever

I wasn't planning on writing anything for today, but after Shohei Ohtani's historic game last night, I had to acknowledge it. 

 

Let's just recap his night against the Marlins:

• 6 hits in 6 at-bats - Right there an impressive night. It's happened less than 100 times in history.
• 5 extra base hits - Only 15 players have ever done that. Any player would call that a career day on it's own.
• 3 home runs - 16 players have hit 3 home runs in a game this season, including 3 just in the month of September.  Just an awesome display of power.
• 10 runs batted in - The first recorded instance of someone driving in at least 10 runs was in 1892. It's happened 15 more times in the 132 years since then. 
• 2 stolen bases - On it's own, not as impressive. Combined with the rest of the above feats though....

In the history of MLB, no one has accomplished all 5 of the above feats over the course of their entire career. Not one of the 23,363 men to have played at that level. Ohtani did it all in one flipping night!

 

 

I haven't even touched on the 50/50 club. Those multiple steals and multiple home runs (another first in baseball by the way - no one has recorded multiple of both in a game before) made Ohtani the charter member of the 50/50 club. He's also the first member of the 50/40 and 50/30 clubs. The previous high mark for stolen bases by someone who hit 50 home runs was 24 by Willie Mays and Alex Rodriguez. Ohtani doubled theft that mark!

 

Oh, and the Dodgers clinched a playoff berth in the process. So, yeah, good day for Ohtani! (I can't wait to see what he does in the postseason!)

Serious question though - now that we have seen what he can do when he doesn't have to worry about pitching, should the Dodgers really discuss if it's even worth putting him on the mound next year? Would the benefit of having him pitch make up for the offensive downgrade we could expect? (Of course the answer is no. Ohtani still needs to check off a Cy Young Award from his to-do list, and he'll probably pitch a perfect game with 20+ strikeouts for good measure...)

For now, every baseball fan (Dodgers fan or not) can appreciate the awesomeness of what this young man is capable of. Enjoy every moment of it while it lasts.