Watch: Shohei Ohtani’s playful sign-stealing gesture to Austin Barnes during pitching change goes viral

LA Dodgers hitter Shohei Ohtani was itching to finish the season with 59 stolen bases. Sunday's game against the Colorado Rockies in Coors Field presented the Japanese slugger the last opportunity to add more to his already impressive tally of 54 home runs and 58 stolen bases.

In the eighth inning, Rockies reliever Victor Vodnik gave up a game-tying home run to Chris Taylor before retiring Andy Pages to welcome Austin Barnes at plate. The Dodgers catcher singled to center field, and it was followed by Ohtani's single on right field, setting him on first base with Barnes at second.

Now, to attempt a base steal, Ohtani needed Barnes' assurance that he would also run to third base as he attempted to steal second. So before doing so, Ohtani let out a playful sign-stealing gesture to Barnes that was caught on camera.

That came after the Rockies had called for a pitching change, with Vodnik being replaced by Seth Halvorsen. Here's the video:

And, of course, the double steal attempt turned out to be good, as both runners get on base safely, with James Outman facing Halvorsen at the plate. Moreover, the play turned out to be pivotal with respect to the game, as Barnes would go on to score on a balk, giving LA a 2-1 lead.

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Shohei Ohtani misses adding Triple Crown to his already 50-50+ season

Entering Sunday's game against the Rockies, Shohei Ohtani and San Diego Padres' Luis Arraez were in a tight race to finish as the NL leader in batting average.

With Arraez recording his 200th hit in a 11-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, his .314 batting average was .004 points better than Shohei Ohtani's. In his game, Ohtani went 1-4 against the Rockies.

While Arraez became the first player to win three batting titles with as many different teams, Ohtani missed out on winning the Triple Crown, which is given to the player who leads their respective league in home runs, RBIs and batting average.

Ohtani had the NL-leading 54 home runs and 130 RBIs but came up just short to add a Triple Crown to his already historic season, which saw him become the first player in MLB history to finish with more than 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season.

Shohei Ohtani's potential third MVP season ended with 54 home runs, 59 stolen bases and 130 RBIs.