TOKYO — Shohei Ohtani’s achievement of becoming the first major league player with at least 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season was rewarded in Japan with extra copies of the newspaper for fans to read on their way to work on Friday mornings.

Ohtani crossed the 50-50 mark on Thursday when he hit three home runs and stole two bases in a 20-4 win over the Miami Marlins that clinched a playoff spot for the Dodgers.

The news dominated the morning’s headlines, and “Ohtani-san” was the No. 1 trending topic on social media platform X.

There was also praise from the Japanese government.

“We would like to extend our warmest congratulations to him on this gigantic record,” Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said in response to the first question at his regular press conference on Friday. “We look forward to further success from Ohtani, who has already accomplished numerous feats and broken new ground.”

Ohtani, who made his Major League Baseball debut with the Los Angeles Angels in 2018, has become Japan’s national icon and pride.

Yu Tachibana, a 44-year-old office worker, was lucky enough to get a copy of the newspaper’s special edition for her 18-year-old son, who plays baseball. She says no one would have thought a decade ago that a Japanese player would be so successful. “It’s very encouraging,” she said, quoting a proverb: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

A wave of congratulatory messages were posted on social media.

“Japan’s record-breaking machine has done it again,” said U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel in his message to X. “Congratulations to Shohei Ohtani on his incredible achievement in baseball. A true global ambassador for the game.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb