By Sergio Silva
Sep 29, 2024, 7:44 PM EDT
Shohei Ohtani He was left with the desire to put the cherry on top of his historic season in 2024 by finishing second in the National League batting lead that Venezuelan Luis Arráez ended up winning on the last day of the regular season of the 2024 Major League campaign. Suspenders.
For the third consecutive season, all with different teams, the San Diego Padres player took the batting crown after finishing the season with a .314 average, four points more than the Japanese star of Los Angeles Dodgers who fought until the end.
After becoming the first player in MLB history to hit 50 or more home runs and steal 50 or more bases in the same campaign, Shohei Ohtani came very close to winning the Batting Triple Crown, an achievement that he achieved for the last time Miguel Cabrera in 2012.
In addition to his average of .310, the Japanese finished as the leader in the National League in home runs with 54 completed hits and in RBIs with 130, numbers that make him one of the great favorites to win the MVP award for the third time in his career. career.
He ran out of gasoline
In the last game of the 2024 Major League season, the Japanese Shohei Ohtani was obliged to show off his skill with the wood but could not comply. The Dodgers star failed in his first three at-bats in the ninth Angelina’s 13-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
This performance by the Japanese combined with that of Luis Arráez, who went 1-for-3 in the San Diego Padres’ 11-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, secured the Venezuelan the batting title in the National League, his third for him in a row after winning it with the Minnesota Twins and Miami Marlins.
However, the hit he hit in his last turn allowed Ohtani to extend the string of games with at least one hit to 12. In this period, the Japanese went 29 for 53, for an average of .547, with seven home runs and 22 RBIs in addition to 11 stolen bases.
Despite this second place in the fight for the batting title, Shohei Ohtani’s first season with the Dodgers, with whom he signed a 10-year mega contract in exchange for $700 million dollars, has been tremendous to the point of leading the ninth Angelina to finish with a record of 98-64.
This is the best record for any team in the 2024 Major League season in which the Dodgers will now seek to continue their dominance in the postseason in which they already had home field advantage assured thanks to the defeat of the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.
Keep reading:
– Shohei Ohtani breaks Ichiro Suzuki’s record for stolen bases for a Japanese in the Major Leagues
– Miguel Rojas wins the Roy Campanella award for his leadership and spirit within the Dodgers
– Padres achieve historic triple play to beat Dodgers and get their ticket to the postseason