Shohei Ohtani Praised as 'Lights out' by Dodgers' Roberts amid Historic MLB Season

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is like the rest of the MLB world in trying to find superlatives to discuss Shohei Ohtani's historic 2024 season.

Speaking to reporters after Friday's 6-4 win over the Colorado Rockies, Roberts praised Ohtani for being "lights out" down the stretch this season.

"I think he's ramped up his focus," Roberts added.

One day after becoming the first player in MLB history to go 50-50 by hitting three homers as part of a 6-for-6 game against the Miami Marlins, Ohtani added another home run and stolen base to his season totals.

Ohtani was coming off a down month in August, at least by his standards. The presumptve NL MVP hit .235/.286/.600 in 27 games last month. He has turned things around with a .324/.390/.730 slash line in 21 starts so far in September, including five homers in his last four games.

Friday marked the 14th different time this season that Ohtani has recorded at least one homer and one stolen base in the same game, breaking the previous MLB record of 13 set by Rickey Henderson in 1986.

The Dodgers (92-62) clinched a playoff berth on Thursday, marking the first time that Ohtani will appear in the postseason in his MLB career. Their magic number to win the NL West is five with eight games remaining.

In addition to fighting for the division title, the Dodgers are tied with the Philadelphia Phillies for the best record in MLB. The Phillies own the head-to-head tiebreaker, so the Dodgers have to finish with a better record to secure home-field advantage in the NL playoffs.