LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani is only in his second year with the Dodgers, but he’s already put himself in some exclusive company in franchise history.
Ohtani slugged his 40th home run of the season in the fifth inning of Saturday night’s game against the Blue Jays at Dodger Stadium, a solo shot off Chris Bassitt that sailed a Statcast-projected 417 feet to straightaway center at 107.8 mph off the bat.
The blast gave Ohtani back-to-back seasons with at least 40 homers, and he joined a short list of Dodgers who have had multiple such seasons:
Ohtani has gone deep at least 40 times in three straight seasons. He’s currently the only active player with four 40-homer seasons, although the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and perhaps the Mets’ Pete Alonso have a shot at getting there this year as well.
The booming blast off Ohtani’s bat gave the Dodgers a 3-0 lead over the Mets in the fifth. One inning earlier, Max Muncy opened the scoring by going the other way for a two-run shot, his third home run since returning from the injured list on Monday.
The pair of long balls ensured that Blake Snell, who struck out 10 hitters through five scoreless innings, left the game in line for the win.
