Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is within striking distance of Roger Maris on the leaderboard for home runs in a player’s first two years with a team.
Ohtani has 96, and counting, during his 2024 and 2025 campaigns with the Dodgers. Marris had 100 during his first two years with the New York Yankees.
If/when Ohtani passes Marris, he’ll be in striking distance of the Texas Rangers’ first two years (of three, total) with Alex Rodriguez (109) and Babe Ruth (113) for his first years with the Yankees.
It’ll be a difficult task to overtake A-Rod and the Great Bambino, but Ohtani has consistently made the difficult look menial. The only challenge he couldn’t overcome was making the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim a playoff team.
Shohei Ohtani facing $240 million off-field lawsuit
While his career has been mostly ups on the field, Ohtani has found himself in a handful of controversies off of it.
The worst being a $240 million lawsuit where he and his agent are being accused of “(exploiting) their celebrity leverage to destabilize and ultimately dismantle Plaintiffs’ role in the project — for no reason other than their own financial self-interest.”
The lawsuit’s details don’t paint Ohtani in a positive light.
The two-way star could use home run history to deflect from these issues and the fact that the Dodgers paid for a pitcher-hitter who may not pitch much longer.