A day unlike any other for a player who is one of one. Just another day in the baseball life of the most unique player we have ever seen: Shohei Ohtani.

Here’s how his Thursday went: a 1-hit shutout in Game 1 of the doubleheader in Detroit and two homers in Game 2.

How rare is this? What’s the context? Let’s dive right in, with seven facts and stats from another amazing Ohtani performance.

• Here are Ohtani's best MLB games

• Ohtani is the first player all-time with a home run in one end of a doubleheader and a shutout in the other, according to the Elias Sports Bureau -- because of course he is. The only other time since 1900 that a pitcher threw a shutout in one game of a doubleheader and even started as a non-pitcher in the other, in either order, was Babe Ruth on July 17, 1918. 

• Ohtani is the second player to throw a shutout allowing one or no hits and homer twice on the same day, joining Rick Wise in his June 23, 1971, no-hitter, which stands as one of the greatest feats ever.

• If we dial back the qualifiers slightly, Ohtani is one of five players to throw a shutout, allowing any quantity of hits, and homer twice on the same day – with the other four all doing so in one game. He joins Sonny Siebert (9/2/1971), Wise, Pedro Ramos (5/30/1962) and Milt Pappas (8/27/1961). That’s right, four times between 1961-71, and never before or since … until now. Baseball!

• Lest you think the two homers are too stringent, two other notes to consider. Ohtani is the first player to throw a shutout and hit even one homer on the same day since Noah Syndergaard on May 2, 2019, when he became the first since Bob Welch in 1983 to homer in his own 1-0 shutout. And Ohtani is the first player to throw a one-hit shutout (or no-hit) and hit at least one homer on the same day since Floyd Youmans on June 8, 1986, who did so in the same game.

• It was Ohtani’s first career MLB shutout. He has 38 home runs so far in 2023, giving him by far the most homers hit in a season by a player to throw at least one shutout that year. Next on that list is 1918 Babe Ruth (11 homers) and 1931 Wes Ferrell (nine).

• His second homer had a 116.9 mph exit velocity, his 10th career home run with at least a 116 mph exit velocity. The only player with more such homers since 2018 began is Giancarlo Stanton, with 17. That’s impressive in its own right, but even more so when we remember that this is from a player who leads qualified pitchers in opponents' batting average this season.

• To that end, a reminder that Ohtani currently leads MLB in OPS, slugging percentage, homers, opponents' batting average and is tied for the lead in triples. He’s the first player to have a share of the MLB lead in homers hit and batting average allowed (min 70 IP) at the end of any given day since 1900 – and this has been true for numerous days in 2023.