It was only a matter of time, right?
Shohei Ohtani has done nothing but launch majestic, tape-measure home runs over the last two seasons with the Dodgers. He followed up a historic 54-homer campaign in 2024 with 55 more home runs in '25, setting a new single-season career high and franchise record. But he wasn't finished launching awe-inspiring blasts. In Game 4 of the NL Championship Series against the Brewers, Ohtani hit a baseball completely out of Dodger Stadium to join some elite and exclusive company.
Dodger Stadium is the third-oldest active ballpark in MLB, having opened its doors in 1962. Since then, only seven players have launched a grand total of eight home runs that have left the stadium entirely during game competition. And the list features some of the top power hitters in baseball history. (The Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. also did it in the first round of the 2021 T-Mobile Home Run Derby, clearing the roof of the pavilion in left-center field for a 472-foot shot.)
Here is a look back at the mashers who have launched a home run completely out of Dodger Stadium in game action.
Oct. 17, 2025 (NLCS Game 4): Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers)
469 feet to RF (per Statcast)
As he so often does, Ohtani put on a show in Game 4 of the NLCS, with the Dodgers one win away from the World Series. He launched a 446-foot home run off left-hander Jose Quintana leading off the game, a majestic blast in its own right. But that home run quickly became a footnote. In the fourth inning, Ohtani climbed in against right-hander Chad Patrick, and promptly worked a 3-1 count. That's when he connected on a cutter and demolished it, clearing the pavilion at the top of the right-field bleachers. Oh, and not to mention, Ohtani also started the game on the mound, notching ten strikeouts while pitching into the seventh inning.
Oct. 8, 2025 (NLDS Game 3): Kyle Schwarber (Phillies)
455 feet to RF (per Statcast)
Facing star right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the fourth inning of NLDS Game 3, Schwarber connected for a moonshot that hit the roof of the pavilion at the top of the right-field bleachers before bouncing out of the stadium. It was one of two homers in the contest for Schwarber, who launched another to right field off Clayton Kershaw in the eighth. While the Phillies lost the series in four games, that moment will be long remembered, especially since the Dodgers installed a plaque at the site two days later.
Sept. 30, 2021: Fernando Tatis Jr. (Padres)
467 feet to LF (per Statcast)
Tatis’ father once made an even rarer form of home run history at Dodger Stadium, so perhaps it’s fitting that San Diego’s young superstar put himself on this particular list. While the Padres were closing the books on a disappointing 2021 regular season, the 22-year-old provided a jaw-dropping highlight by crushing a Tony Gonsolin pitch off the pavilion roof and out for his 42nd homer.
“Everybody was just kind of in shock,” then-Padres manager Jace Tingler said afterward, and that about sums it up.
May 12, 2015: Giancarlo Stanton (Marlins)
475 feet to LF (per Statcast)
If there were one active player who was likely to do this, it would probably be Stanton. And the Southern California native, who went to high school less than 15 miles from Dodger Stadium, was up to the task. Early in the first season of Statcast tracking, he got a meaty pitch from righty Mike Bolsinger and obliterated it out of the stadium. So mighty was the swat, Dodgers left fielder Scott Van Slyke didn’t even bother to move as the ball rocketed over his head at 114 mph.
“That was amazing,” said veteran pitcher Dan Haren, then a Marlin and formerly a Dodger. “If anyone is going to do it, it’s him.”
May 22, 1999: Mark McGwire (Cardinals)
483 feet to LCF (estimated)
Big Mac was basically a real-life Paul Bunyan at this point in time, having broken Roger Maris’ single-season home run record the year before and then carrying that into 1999. He launched two big flies in this particular game, with the second (off a visibly distraught Jamie Arnold) not only caroming off the pavilion roof and out but doing so pretty far over into the left-center-field gap.
“He’s done it again, and let’s see where that goes,” said legendary Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully on the air, with obvious awe, as the ball soared toward its destiny. “Gee whiz.”
Sept. 21, 1997: Mike Piazza (Dodgers)
478 feet to LF (estimated)
This was near the end of Piazza’s finest season, when the Hall of Famer hit .362/.431/.638 with 40 homers, while also starting 138 games behind the plate. By the end of the following May, he will have been traded to the Marlins and then on to the Mets. But for now, Piazza was still in Dodger Blue, and when the Rockies’ Frank Castillo hung him a breaking ball, he absolutely did not miss it.
May 8, 1973: Willie Stargell (Pirates)
470 feet to RF (estimated)
Aug. 5, 1969: Willie Stargell (Pirates)
506 feet to RF (estimated)
It’s remarkable that the only player to hit two balls out of Dodger Stadium didn’t even play for the home team. But Stargell remains one of the greatest sluggers who ever lived, with 475 long balls to his credit, including a number of memorable blasts at parks around the National League.