Shohei Ohtani can't help but stand alone in MLB history.
Even in a moment when it seems like the Los Angeles Dodgers' two-way superstar has done something merely great and not extraordinary, he's unmatched.
That's oddly true of Ohtani's 2025 MLB regular season home run total.
He finished the calendar with 55 home runs.
On paper, that sounds cool. A great number. One of the better power-hitting seasons in recent memory. But not historic, right?
Except for this: No one has ever hit 55 homers in a season before, on the dot.
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There have been four seasons of 56 home runs: two by Ken Griffey Jr., one by Hack Wilson and this season by Kyle Schwarber.
There have been nine seasons of 54 home runs: two by Babe Ruth and then Ralph Kiner, Mickey Mantle, Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz, Jose Bautista, Matt Olson and Ohtani last year.
But there had never been a season with exactly 55 homers hit in it until this one.
It marks the 24th-best home run hitting season in MLB history.
It's more of a statistical quirk than anything else. Ohtani surely wouldn't have minded hitting 57 or 62 or 73.
But he ended at 55, and even in that, he found a way to reside in his own special place in baseball history.
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