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'God of Baseball' Shohei Ohtani (32, Los Angeles Dodgers) made history in Major League Baseball for 125 years by simultaneously serving as a starting pitcher and a batter. He became the first starting pitcher in a regular-season game to hit a leadoff home run. Ohtani had achieved this once during the 2025 season, but that was in a postseason game.
On the 21st (Korean time), Ohtani started as both the starting pitcher and the leadoff hitter in an away game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park in San Diego, California, USA, in the '2026 Major League Baseball (MLB)' season.
From the top of the first inning, Ohtani crushed the first pitch (95.5 mph four-seam fastball) from San Diego's starting pitcher Randy Baazquez, hitting a leadoff home run over the center-field wall. It was Ohtani's eighth home run of the season.
According to Sara Langs, a reporter for MLB.com, the official website of Major League Baseball, since the 1900 season, there have been only three instances in MLB history where a starting pitcher batted in the leadoff spot, excluding Ohtani. Among them, Ohtani is the first in 126 years to hit a home run as a starting pitcher batting leadoff in a regular-season game in the first inning.
In fact, during the 2025 season, Ohtani hit the first-ever 'pitcher leadoff home run' in the postseason during Game 4 of the National League Championship Series (NLCS), delivering an incredible performance with three home runs and 10 strikeouts. With this home run, he became the only player to achieve this historic feat in both the postseason and the regular season.
In fact, Ohtani has been underperforming this season compared to last season. While he has not yet reached the 50th-home run pace, this home run proved his recently revived batting form.
Until recently, Ohtani had been in a severe slump, batting only .200 over the past month. This was also the reason why manager Dave Roberts decided not to have Ohtani bat in his last three consecutive starts as a pitcher to reduce his physical burden.
Thanks to this rest, Ohtani has been on a powerful surge. In his last seven games, he recorded 13 hits and 7 extra-base hits, completely regaining his batting form, and finally announced his comeback to the world with a historic home run in his return as a two-way player. His season batting average, which had dropped to .233, has risen to .275.
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*This content was translated by AI.
