Shohei Ohtani gets to 40 home runs the 5th-fastest in Dodgers history

Shohei Ohtani in his first season with the Dodgers has already accomplished something done by just eight other players in franchise history. He hit 40 home runs, and did so well before September.

Ohtani’s 40th came on Friday, with a walk-off grand slam in the ninth inning to beat the Rays. It was just the 14th walk-off grand slam for the Dodgers dating back to at least 1912.

The home run came in the same game Ohtani stole his 40th base, giving him the sixth 40-40 season in MLB history.

Ohtani leads the National League with those 40 home runs. It’s the third time he’s hit 40 homers in a season, along with hitting 46 home runs in 2021 and 44 in 2023, both with the Angels. He led the American League in home runs last season.

Forty home runs is one component of potentially one of the best power-speed seasons in major league history. Ohtani is on pace for 50 homers this season, which puts him with reach of breaking Shawn Green’s franchise record of 49 home runs, hit in 2001.

By getting to 40 home runs in 129 games, Ohtani reached the milestone tied for the fifth-fastest among the 15 individual 40-homer seasons in Dodgers history, behind only Gary Sheffield (121 games in 2000), Cody Bellinger (123 games in 2019), Adrián Beltré (125 games in 2004), and Green’s record-setting year (128 games in 2001).

Duke Snider in 1955 reached 40 home runs in Brooklyn’s 129th game, the same as Ohtani this year. Snider finished that 154-game season with 42 home runs, the third of what would be five consecutive 40-homer seasons.

Ohtani is one of only six Dodgers to hit 40 home runs in a season before September.