Shohei Ohtani Allowed His First Home Runs of 2026. The Dodgers Star Is Still Untouchable
Shohei Ohtani allowed his first home runs of the 2026 season on Tuesday night. He gave up solo shots to Christian Walker and Braden Shewmake. Both came on 98.7 mph fastballs that caught a little too much of the plate. The Dodgers won anyway, because Ohtani is on a different planet right now.
The numbers as a pitcher: 0.82 ERA across 55 innings. The numbers as a hitter: .386 over his last 15 games with three home runs, 14 RBIs, and a 1.152 OPS. There is no other player in baseball history doing this in his prime, and Ohtani is making it look routine.
The two home runs allowed Tuesday were the first of his pitching season. That is not a typo. Ohtani had thrown 55 innings without giving up a home run before Tuesday. The MLB average pitcher gives up 1.2 home runs per nine innings. Ohtani went 55 innings before allowing his first one. That is mathematical insanity.
The Dodgers have been the best team in baseball since Opening Day. They have a 41-22 record. They have lapped the NL West. They have the best run differential in the National League. And the single biggest reason for all of that is that Shohei Ohtani is the best player in baseball, and it is not close.
What is even crazier is that Ohtani has not even been doing his most dangerous thing yet. He is on a managed pitch count. Dave Roberts has been careful with his innings, keeping him at around 80 pitches per start. That is going to ramp up in July as the season heats up. If Ohtani is putting up a 0.82 ERA at 80 pitches, what does the 100-pitch version look like?
The hitting numbers are equally absurd. Ohtani has hit a home run in each of his last two pitching starts. The man is hitting bombs in games he is also starting on the mound. The level of effort and concentration that requires is hard to put into words. Most pitchers cannot focus on hitting. Ohtani is hitting .386 in games he pitches.
The Dodgers’ depth is what makes Ohtani so dangerous. He is supported by Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, and Teoscar Hernandez in the lineup. The pitching staff has Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and a deep bullpen. There is no obvious weakness on the roster. Ohtani is the cherry on top of the best team in baseball.
Historically, June is Ohtani’s best month at the plate. He has 62 career home runs in June across just 163 games. He is slugging .723 in his career in June. The math says we are about to see Ohtani heat up even further at the plate, while continuing to pitch at a Cy Young level. That is terrifying for the rest of the National League.
What this means for the playoff picture is the Dodgers are the team to beat. Nothing has changed there. The Phillies are still good. The Braves are still dangerous. The Mets are starting to figure things out. But none of those teams have a 50-grade Cy Young candidate who is also slugging .700.
The home runs Ohtani gave up Tuesday are barely worth mentioning except as proof that he is human. Walker and Shewmake got to celebrate touching up Ohtani for the first time this season. The Dodgers won the game 7-2. Ohtani is still the best player in baseball, and the gap between him and the second-best player keeps growing.
Ohtani is doing things that no one has ever done. The two home runs Tuesday will be a footnote. The MVP race is over before it starts. Again.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
