Shohei Ohtani gets his first home run of 2026, sparking Dodgers comeback vs. Nationals

Shohei Ohtani has finally hit his first home run of the year. The Los Angeles Dodgers star left the yard in the third inning of Friday’s game against the Washington Nationals, sending the ball deep into right field.

The three-run bomb brought the Dodgers even with the Nationals. (Washington had pulled ahead after a CJ Abrams three-run homer in the first.)

Ohtani’s home run sparked a comeback for the Dodgers: Two batters later, Mookie Betts smashed a two-run homer, followed by more two-run bombs from Andy Pages and Freddie Freeman in the third and fourth innings, respectively.

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It’s been a pretty slow start to the year for Ohtani, who came into the game with a .167/.423/.167 stat line. Ohtani only had three hits in 18 at-bats, but scored two runs off of walks.

With that said, it’s not an uncharacteristic start for the two-way star. This time last year, Ohtani had only hit three homers; in 2024, Ohtani also hit his first homer of the year on April 3. L.A. has also only played seven games so far this year, with the MLB season starting slightly later due to the World Baseball Classic.

The four-time MVP ended with 55 home runs last year; with 155 games left in the season, he is still well on pace to repeat that.

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Ohtani also made his return to the starting pitching rotation this week, throwing six scoreless innings on Tuesday in a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians.

In general, though, it’s been a slow start for the top home run scorers so far this year. Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, who led the league in homers last season, has yet to go yard in 2026, and has only four hits across 25 at-bats. New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge had a dismal Opening Day, recording four strikeouts in five at-bats, but he’s since gotten two homers and hit another on Friday.

Kyle Schwarber, who finished with 56 homers last year, is the major anomaly in the first week of play: He hit a two-run bomb in the first inning on Opening Day to start the year off with a bang.