Shohei Ohtani hits his first home run of 2026, sparking Dodgers' offense vs. Nationals

Shohei Ohtani has finally hit his first home run of the 2026 MLB season. 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 blast brought the Dodgers even with the Nationals. Washington had taken an early lead on CJ Abrams’ three-run homer in the first.

Ohtani’s home run sparked an offensive explosion for the Dodgers: Two batters later, Mookie Betts smashed a two-run homer, and that was followed by two-run homers from Andy Pages and Freddie Freeman in the third and fourth innings, respectively.

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

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

The four-time MVP finished with 55 home runs last year. With 155 games left in the 2026 season, he has plenty of time to replicate 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 has been a slow start to the season for the 2025 home run leaders. 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 has since hit two homers, with 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 blast in the first inning on Opening Day to start the year off with a bang.