LOS ANGELES -- Shohei Ohtani, to the moon.
Well, not quite. But the Dodgers superstar became the first in the National League to 30 homers with a majestic solo shot in the fourth inning of Tuesday's series-opening 6-1 win against the White Sox at Dodger Stadium.
It marked the fifth straight season in which Ohtani has gone deep at least 30 times, and it's the third time in his Major League career that he's reached that mark before the All-Star break (also in 2021 and '23). He is the 12th active big leaguer with at least five 30-homer seasons.
Ohtani was hitless in his first two at-bats against White Sox starter Shane Smith, but he worked a full count when he was up with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. Smith tried to put Ohtani away with a slider on the inner edge of the plate, but Ohtani launched the offering into orbit.
The ball left Ohtani's bat at 116.3 mph and hung in the air for nearly seven seconds before landing a projected 408 feet away in the Right Field Pavilion seats. It was hit at a 42-degree launch angle, making it the hardest-hit home run with a launch angle of at least 36 degrees since Statcast began tracking in 2015.
Ohtani's big blast was a bonus for the Dodgers, who jumped on Smith for four runs in the first inning on run-scoring knocks from Teoscar Hernández, Michael Conforto and Andy Pages. Pages drove in another run in the third, providing more than enough run support to back Yoshinobu Yamamoto's seven innings of one-run ball.
"I just think it was good that coming off an off-day," manager Dave Roberts said. "[We] fed off the momentum from Yoshinobu and got hits when we needed to. … And obviously, Shohei did what Shohei does."
Through the first 86 team games of a season, Ohtani's 30 homers are the most in Dodgers history. Gil Hodges (1951) and Duke Snider (1955) are tied for the second most with 28.
Ohtani is tied with the Yankees' Aaron Judge for the second-most homers in the Majors. They trail the Mariners' Cal Raleigh (33) for the Major League lead. It is the fifth season on record where three or more players have hit 30 or more homers before the All-Star break.
But Ohtani brings something to the table that the others don't. He's back to his two-way duties, with his next start on the mound set for Saturday afternoon against the Astros.
There have only been four seasons in which a Major Leaguer has made multiple starts on the mound and hit 30 or more homers, and all four belong to Ohtani. He did it each year from 2021-23, and he's done it again now that he's back on the mound in '25. Ohtani has served as more of a multi-inning opener while he continues to build up at the big league level, so he has yet to make a full-length start, as he did in those previous years.
Even so, what Ohtani does is truly one of a kind.
"Just seeing it day to day and all it entails for him to get ready to play a game," Roberts said, "kind of realize the expectations that he has on himself and still pitching and stay healthy, that’s kind of hard to wrap my head around, to be completely honest. But he’s as good as anyone as I’ve seen at compartmentalizing the expectations, noise, different facets of the game, all while performing."
The Dodgers saw Ohtani accomplish something unprecedented when he created the 50-50 club in his first season with the team. Now, he's back to hitting and pitching -- a return to normalcy for him that has his teammates in awe.
When it comes to Ohtani, even those who are around him every day find themselves impressed at how he is able to balance it all.
"I just kind of stand back in amazement, actually," Roberts said.