Shohei Ohtani belts walk-off grand slam to become fastest to 40/40 in MLB history

Shohei Ohtani has made history again — this time in grand fashion.

The Dodgers superstar hit a walk-off grand slam against the Rays on Friday night for his 40th home run, becoming the fastest player to achieve the feat in MLB history. He is the first 40/40 player in Dodgers history and only the sixth MLB player of all time.

Ohtani joined the 40/40 club in just 126 games, shattering the previous record of 147 games by the Washington Nationals’ Alfonso Soriano in 2006. 

The two-time AL MVP and current NL MVP front-runner entered Friday with 39 home runs and 39 stolen bases on the season. He swiped a base in the fourth inning and then grounded out in his following two at-bats. But with the score tied, the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Ohtani sent the first pitch he saw from Colin Poche just over the fence in right-center to give the Dodgers a 7-3 victory.

And with more than a month remaining in the season, Ohtani could soon become the first player in MLB history to tally 45 homers and 45 steals in a season. 

Here are the previous 40/40 seasons and how they compare to Ohtani’s historic campaign.

1988: Jose Canseco, Oakland Athletics: .307/.391/.569/.959; 42 HR, 40 SB

This was a banner year for Canseco. He displayed a combination of power and speed rarely seen in baseball and delivered the first 40/40 season in MLB history. Moreover, he also hit over .300 for the only time in his career and led the AL in slugging percentage. Canseco won the American League MVP award and eventually helped the Athletics reach the World Series. They came up just short that year, losing the series 4-1 to the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

1996: Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants: .308/.461/.615/1.076; 42 HR, 40 SB

Barry Bonds has a lot of records, but the first half of his career saw an elite power-speed combination that younger fans who saw him break home-run records were not privy to. In 1996, Bonds finished with 40 steals, the third time in his career he had 40 or more, to go along with 42 dingers. However, despite posting the second-ever season with 40 long balls and 40 thefts, he was unable to crack the top three in MVP voting. Coming off winning the 1990, 1992 and 1993 MVP’s, the standard was a little bit higher for the dynamic outfielder. 

Despite his incredible play, the Giants finished in last place in the NL West and missed the playoffs, a likely reason he failed to garner more MVP support.

1998: Álex Rodríguez, Seattle Mariners: .310/.360/.560/.919; 42 HR, 46 SB

The all-time stolen base leader in 40/40 seasons, Rodríguez topped 40 steals for the first and only time in his career when he swiped 46 bags to go along with swatting 42 big flies. Those numbers helped A-Rod earn MVP votes for the second time in his career but he somehow finished just ninth in the voting despite also leading the AL in hits for the season (213) as well as being top-five in RBI (124), total bases (384), runs scored (123) and extra-base hits (82).

However, despite his greatness, Rodríguez and the Mariners finished under .500 and failed to qualify for the playoffs. A surefire reason for the lack of MVP votes despite the historic season.

2006: Alfonso Soriano, Washington Nationals: .277/.351/.560/.911; 46 HR, 41 SB

The first player to ever hit 45 or more home runs with 40 or more steals in a season, Soriano is the most recent player to deliver a 40/40 campaign. Even more impressive, it was his only season in Washington and his 46 homers are still a single-season franchise record to this day. It also happened to be the only time in his career that Soriano topped 40 long balls and the last time he even surpassed 35 big flies. Moreover, it was also the last time he reached 40 stolen bases in his career. 

All those numbers and his franchise record, however, were not enough to garner MVP support — like the teams featuring the two 40/40 campaigns preceding Soriano’s, the Nationals didn’t make the playoffs and finished in last place in the NL East.

2023: Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta Braves: .337/.416/.596/1.012; 42 HR, 73 SB

It became clear early last season that Acuña would zoom past 40 steals. The intrigue mostly lied in how many homers he would finish with. Well, he clubbed his 40th in the final week of the 2023 regular season, soon after he’d already stolen his 70th base. That made him the founding member of the 40-70 club. The previous high for steals among members of the 40/40 club was 46 by Rodrí­guez in 1998. Acuña had already make history earlier in the year by becoming the first player to record 30 home runs and 60 steals. He was also the first National League player to join the 40/40 club in the same season that his team made the playoffs.

It all added up to an MVP award for Acuña and one of the most impressive individual seasons of all time.  

2024: Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers: .292/.378/.614/.992; 40 HR, 40 SB (33 games remaining)

Ohtani’s majestic shot Friday night might have all but locked up his third MVP award. It also put him one step closer to a previously unthinkable 50-50 season.

RELATED: Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge MVP locks? American League’s best bet? Joey Votto, HOFer?

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