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Shohei Ohtani leads the Nationwide League in runs. It’s not even shut. He has scored 44 instances in 2025. That’s 10 extra runs than Fernando tate Jr.the following highest-scoring NL participant. A couple of certified NL batters haven’t even scored 10 runs but this season.
Ohtani doesn’t lead the Nationwide League in RBI. Not even shut. For those who go to our leaderboards and kind by RBI, you’ll must click on to the second web page of names to search out the reigning NL RBI king. Ohtani is tied for thirty sixth within the senior circuit with 21 runs batted in. That’s just one greater than the league median for a certified hitter. Right here’s one other technique to put it: The common NL batter has one RBI for each 8.8 plate appearances. Ohtani has averaged one RBI each 8.7 PA. It’s not so typically that Ohtani is on the second web page. It’s not so typically that he’s a rounding error away from league common.
Runs and RBI may not be the very best metrics for evaluating previous efficiency or projecting the longer term, however they’re nonetheless two of the foremost storytelling statistics. Up to now, the story of Ohtani’s season is that he’s scoring runs at an nearly unbelievable charge however driving them in at a pedestrian tempo. For the reason that starting of the Reside Ball period in 1920, we now have information of 11,326 particular person participant seasons of at the very least 500 PA. In simply 481 of these seasons, fewer than 5%, did the participant end with a better run-to-RBI ratio than Ohtani’s present mark of 44:21 (2.095). As per typical, Ohtani stands out even amongst that small group of gamers. Check out this record of each participant from the previous decade who’s had a single-season run-to-RBI ratio larger than Ohtani’s 2.095. I’d such as you to try to see if possibly, simply possibly, you may have a eager sufficient eye to identify the distinction between Ohtani and the others:
Run-to-RBI Ratio
My. 500 PA, 2016-24
By way of 39 video games and 183 plate appearances, Ohtani has hit as many or extra residence runs as all however a kind of gamers did for your complete season. His .333 ISO is greater than double any of theirs. All in all, of the aforementioned 481 gamers, from names like Ivy Griffin, Carson Bigbeeand Morrie Rath in 1920 to Myles Straw in 2022, none completed with whilst many as 20 residence runs. Solely 11 surpassed 15. The median of the group is three homers. Ohtani is on tempo for 47. Equally, none of these 481 completed with an remoted energy of .200 or above. The closest was Rickie Weeks Jr. with a .198 ISO in 2017. In the meantime, the very best era-adjusted ISO belongs to Snuffy Stirnweisswhose .142 ISO in 1944 was 44% higher than the league common. Ohtani’s ISO is presently 122% higher than league common. To search out any participant with a better run-to-RBI ratio and a better adjusted ISO than Ohtani, it’s important to drop the taking part in time threshold considerably and go all the way in which again to 1880, when Harry Stovey scored 76 runs with 28 RBI for the 1880 Worcester Worcesters. His ISO was .189. His adjusted ISO was 245.
Merely put, we’ve by no means seen an influence hitter of Ohtani’s caliber publish such a lopsided run-to-RBI ratio over a full season. Heck, we’ve by no means seen a hitter of his caliber pull it off; the “energy” qualifier isn’t vital. Solely two of these 481 gamers completed the yr with a wRC+ above 150: Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs. Right here’s how these two seasons from these two Corridor of Famers stack as much as Ohtani in 2025:
Run-to-RBI Ratio Above Ohtani, wRC+ Above 150
Participant
Season
R:RBI
wRC+
Shohei Ohtani
2025
2.095
187
Wade Boggs
1988
2.207
167
Tony Gwynn
1987
2.204
154
Min. 500 PA, excluding 2025
Moreover, we don’t want fancy math like run-to-RBI ratios or complicated trendy stats like wRC+ to show that what Ohtani’s doing is historic. He’s on tempo to attain 174 runs. Solely three gamers in main league historical past have scored greater than 174 instances in a season: Sliding Billy Hamilton (198 in 1894), Tom Brown (177 in 1891), and Babe Ruth (177 in 1921). Certainly, should you have a look at the single-season runs leaders web page on Baseball Referenceyou’ll discover solely black-and-white photographs. You need to scroll all the way down to Jeff Bagwelltied for thirtieth place with a 152-run season in 2000, to search out anybody with a coloration picture on his participant web page. Whereas it’s unlikely that Ohtani will sustain his present tempo, he solely wants to attain one other 109 runs within the Dodgers’ 121 remaining video games to surpass Bagwell for the very best single-season runs whole since World Struggle II. That gained’t be simple both. To attain 109 runs in 121 video games is to attain at a 146-run full-season tempo; final yr, Ohtani led the majors with a career-best 134 runs. Nonetheless, it’s but another excuse to tune in to Dodgers video games at any time when Ohtani is as much as bat or on the bases.
After all, it’s not stunning to see Ohtani scoring a ton of runs. He has nice on-base abilities, he runs effectively, and he anchors the very best offensive workforce within the Nationwide League. What’s actually stunning about all that is his lack of RBI, contemplating how typically he racks up hits, extra-base hits, and residential runs. A part of what’s happening is that he has batted leadoff in all 39 video games he’s performed this yr. Meaning the one manner he can report an RBI in his first plate look is to hit a house run. In different phrases, he takes one journey to the plate each recreation through which it’s unimaginable for him to have extra RBI than runs scored. As well as, as a result of he’s not hitting behind Mookie Betts and/or Freddie Freemanhe’s much less prone to come as much as bat with runners on base in any given plate look, as a result of the spots forward of him are on the backside of the order. That’s exactly why it’s traditionally been so unusual for prolific energy hitters like Ohtani to bat within the leadoff spot.
But, Ohtani’s place within the batting order doesn’t clarify every part. He took over because the Los Angeles leadoff hitter final June when Betts landed on the IL. From June 17 by the top of the 2024 season, Ohtani took all of his plate appearances from the leadoff spot. Total, his offensive manufacturing in that span was fairly much like his offensive manufacturing in 2025, however one distinction was he recorded 84 RBI and scored 81 runs. Furthermore, he averaged considerably extra RBI-per-PA from that time on than he had earlier within the 2024 season, serving to him end with an NL-leading 130 RBI. He was main off then, and he’s main off now. What modified?
Effectively, from June 17 by the top of the 2024 season, the Dodgers led all groups in OBP and wRC+ from the underside third of the batting order. Their 7-9 hitters reached base at a .331 clip with a 115 wRC+. These are higher numbers than most groups received out of their 1-3 hitters in the identical span. In distinction, the 2025 Dodgers rank twenty fourth in OBP (.283) and twenty fifth in wRC+ (73) from their 7-8-9 hitters. This yr greater than final, the distinction between the caliber of hitters batting in entrance of Ohtani and people batting behind him is very large. The Dodgers’ 2-4 hitters have a league-leading 169 wRC+. The 96 factors of wRC+ that separate their 2-4 hitters and 7-9 hitters make for simply the biggest differential within the sport; the Mets rank second with a 66-point hole. Certainly, it’s the biggest differential in any season since at the very least 2002, which is way back to our splits leaderboards will take me. With that in thoughts, it’s no surprise Ohtani has greater than twice as many runs as RBI; the hitters behind him have been greater than twice as productive as these in entrance of him.
Besides that also doesn’t utterly clarify why his RBI whole is so low. In line with Baseball Reference, Ohtani has pushed in simply 9 of the 83 runners on base when he’s batted this season. (Understand that 12 of the 21 runners he’s batted in have been himself.) His 10.8% RBI conversion charge is definitely the bottom of his profession and places him among the many backside 30 certified hitters this season. Meaning it’s not nearly an absence of alternative. To that time, check out Ohtani’s numbers with the bases empty, with runners on, and with RISP:
Ohtani’s Efficiency by Base State
Base State
PA
BB%
Ok%
AVG
wRC+
Bases Empty
120
10.8%
23.3%
.318
195
Runners On
63
22.2%
28.6%
.286
169
RISP
33
27.3%
27.3%
.208
129
First issues first, Ohtani has been a productive hitter in every of those base-state conditions. Second of all, we’re coping with tiny samples now, and that’s vital to recollect. Nonetheless, it’s onerous to disregard that half of his eight doubles, three-quarters of his 12 residence runs, and all 4 of his triples this yr have include the bases empty. On a associated word, and as you might need gleaned from the huge distinction in his stroll charges with and with out runners on, Ohtani hasn’t been getting practically as many good pitches to hit with runners on base. The desk under reveals how his zone charge compares to the league common in numerous base states – and these numbers don’t even embrace the 4 instances he has been deliberately walked with runners in scoring place:
Zone Price by Base State
Base State
Ohtani
League Common
Bases Empty
51.3%
51.0%
Runners On
43.3%
49.6%
RISP
45.0%
48.9%
Equally, have a look at what number of extra rubbish pitches Ohtani has seen when he has give you an opportunity to drive in a baserunner:
Chase + Waste Price by Base State
Base State
Ohtani
League Common
Bases Empty
28.7%
29.2%
Runners On
35.7%
30.3%
RISP
37.6%
30.8%
My first query after I noticed these numbers was: Is that this actually any completely different from final yr? In any case, it’s not as if pitchers didn’t understand how harmful Ohtani was in 2024. And but, the numbers actually are fairly completely different:
Ohtani’s Zone and Chase+Waste Charges in 2024
Base State
Zone Price
Chase+Waste Price
Bases Empty
48.1%
31.5%
Runners On
47.9%
31.3%
RISP
48.7%
30.8%
As soon as once more, take into account that the samples are small, nevertheless it positive looks as if opposing pitchers have been extra scared to problem Ohtani with runners on base in 2025 than they had been final yr. Maybe in 2024, pitchers figured there was no good purpose to pitch round Ohtani, as a result of they’d simply must face the hitters behind him, specifically Betts, Freddie Freemanand Teoscar Hernández. By now, nonetheless, pitchers might need realized that whereas the remainder of the lineup is fearsome, Ohtani continues to be that a lot better than everybody else. Earlier than you learn the stat I’m about to quote, keep in mind that Los Angeles’ 2-4 hitters have mixed for a better wRC+ than the 2-4 hitters of every other workforce within the sport this season. Even so, the distinction between the Dodgers’ 188 wRC+ from the leadoff spot and their 169 wRC+ from their 2-4 hitters is the fifth-highest hole within the majors. It seems Ohtani’s opponents are effectively conscious of that, they usually’re making it tougher than ever for him to rack up RBI. So, naturally, Ohtani responded to this by scoring runs at a near-historic tempo.
That is the second time I’ve written about Ohtani right here at FanGraphs. It’s been a cheerful accident on each events. A few years in the past, I used to be interested by which beginning pitcher had the largest velocity differential between his four-seam fastball and sinker. I discovered Ohtani. This time, on one other whim, I used to be searching for gamers with uncommon run-to-RBI ratios. As soon as once more, a narrative about Ohtani stumbled into my lap. We all know by now that this man is a unicorn. He pitches and he hits. He had the primary 50/50 season in main league historical past. He’s the one full-time DH to ever win an MVP, and certainly, he’s such an exceptional hitter that he would proceed to be a perennial MVP contender even when he by no means pitched once more or stole one other base. Ohtani receives a lot consideration for being distinctive that typically it nearly feels boring to speak about how particular he’s. After which, after all, he goes and finds yet one more technique to be completely in contrast to anybody else.
