What's next for Shohei Ohtani? The most talented player in baseball history is finally headed to the playoffs

Shohei Ohtani is ridiculous and off the charts. We already knew that, of course, but his exploits in Miami on Thursday night… 6-for-6 with three homers, 10 RBIs and two stolen bases — were the most emphatic reminder he could offer. This was the game in which he became the first MLB Player in history to reach 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season.

Of course It had to happen this way. No, he didn't reach the plateau with something like a stolen base in an 0-for-4 game. He broke through the barrier with one of the best individual performances we've ever seen. What else is left for him to do?

Well, I guess we could ask what else he has left to do. On a regular basis season?

His next task is to surprise us in the postseason. Unfortunately, he's never had the chance before, but the Dodgers' bloody win over the Marlins on Thursday officially assured them a spot in the playoffs.

It seems unlikely that Ohtani can live up to expectations in the postseason.

Then again, coming into this season it would have sounded ridiculous if anyone had suggested it would be 50-50. Just as coming into 2021, it would have sounded ridiculous if Ohtani started the All-Star Game as a pitcher and DH. Or that he would finish fourth in Cy Young voting and hit 34 home runs.

It would be easy to become numb to how impressive Ohtani is. After all, in this age of 24/7 news cycles and social media, it's easy to get tired of fawning over a guy for four years.

However, let us not assume that previous boundaries will be broken.

Let’s go back a decade and look at the statistics from Nippon Professional Baseball. There was a 19-year-old kid who hit pretty well in 234 plate appearances and also pitched to a 2.61 ERA in 155 1/3 innings. What if someone told you that this kid would make it to Major League Baseball and do the following:

• He hit 46 homers with 100 RBIs and 26 stolen bases while going 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA and 156 strikeouts in 130 1/3 innings pitched in 2021.
• The following season, he posted a 144 OPS+ with 34 home runs and 95 RBIs, while winning 15 games and striking out 219 batters in 166 innings. He had a 2.33 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP.
• In his third consecutive year of full-time dual duty, he had a 185 OPS+ with 44 homers, 95 RBIs, 102 runs, 20 stolen bases, 10 wins, 167 strikeouts in 132 innings with a 3.14 ERA.
• Then you would have the first 50-50 season in history.

There's a lot more that was omitted for the sake of brevity, but even bits of this would have sounded not only unrealistic but just plain outlandish. Was this situation happening in a video game?

No, it's just Shohei Ohtani. He does things that were once considered unrealistic.

Again, it's entirely possible that some people at this point just take your unique greatness for granted, or are insensitive to it, or even resentful of it (note: never date that person). We shouldn't let our minds take us down any of those paths. This is special. It's not just generational. I used the word “unique” above and that means one-of-a-kind. never There hasn't been anyone like him. Ohtani has already been a full-time, two-way player for a longer period of time than Babe Ruth, and Ruth never stole more than 17 bases in a season.

I've been asked before whether Ohtani is the greatest player of all time. He needs more longevity before he reaches that threshold, but there shouldn't be much argument with that statement: He's the most talented and complete player in baseball history.

For his next move, he will participate in the postseason.

Major League Baseball has done everything it could to promote Ohtani over the past four seasons. When he was mired in relative obscurity with the perennially out-of-contention Angels, there was little the league could do when it came to an Ohtani-less October.

Here in 2024, he'll finally be playing on the big stage. He'll need some help from his Dodgers teammates to be able to play on the biggest stage the sport has to offer, the World Series, but for now, we can dream about an Ohtani playoff appearance and what he'll do with it.

Considering what we've seen from him in the regular season, would there even be anything surprising?

Probably not, but we might see something special and it will be incredibly fun to watch it unfold.