Shohei Ohtani joins historic 40-40 club in grand fashion 

Arguably Major League Baseball's greatest two-way ace, Shohei Ohtani achieved yet another historic milestone in his illustrious baseball career after joining the 40-40 club in grand fashion.

The LA Dodgers superstar smashed a grand slam walk-off home run against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night at Dodger Stadium, registering the 40th homer of his campaign while having already stolen his 40th base earlier in the game.

The Dodgers won the series opener 7-3. The entire dugout, while celebrating the win, ran out on the field to embrace the mighty Shohei for having achieved the historic milestone in just 126 games, making him the fastest ever to do so. Only five players before Ohtani had achieved this feat in the MLB. "Shotime" has been a man on a mission in his maiden season with the Dodgers.

The Dodgers completed Shohei Ohtani's signing after he agreed to a mammoth 10-year, $700 million contract during the 2023 offseason. Since the Japanese ace had undergone surgery on his pitching elbow in September last year, he was ruled out of pitching until the 2025 season.

Despite only being able to showcase his might at the plate in the current campaign, Ohtani has thoroughly flourished for his new club, who are 77-52 for the season and currently sit atop the NL West standings with one of the best records so far this season.

Shohei Ohtani was both a home run and a stolen base short of entering the 40-40 club, and he managed to achieve that on Friday.

Previously, Ronald Acuna Jr. with the Braves in 2023, Alfonso Soriano with the Nationals in 2006, Alex Rodriguez with the Mariners in 1998, Barry Bonds with the Giants in 1996 and Jose Canseco with the Athletics in 1988 achieved the same mammoth feat.

Shohei Ohtani has been producing immaculate offensive numbers with Dodgers in 2024

Ohtani has been leading all the offensive stats in the Dodgers roster this season. The ballclub's stacked lineup has looked up to their Japanese phenom for producing thrilling moments with every passing gameday, often getting them over the line in competitive matchups this season.

Shohei Ohtani is batting with an average of .292, with 40 home runs, 92 RBIs and a healthy OPS of .992 so far this season. The Dodgers will be hopeful their ace can continue his amazing run-in-form for the remainder of the campaign – and more importantly – carry it forward into the postseason as well.