Is Shohei Ohtani the Greatest Baseball Player Ever? The Debate That’s Shaking the Sport to Its Core
- .950 OPS (among 27 of 2,620 players with 2,500+ plate appearances)
- Sub-2.85 ERA (among 63 out of 2,868 pitchers with 500-plus innings pitched)
To account for the different eras of Ruth and Ohtani, I looked at OPS+ and ERA-, which are metrics that compare performance to league average. I then took Ruth and Ohtani’s three-year peak in each statistic to contextualize their dominance at their very best in comparison to other player’s peaks over the last 110 seasons (1916-2025).
Highest 3-Year Peak OPS+: 1916-2025 (minimum 1,000 plate appearances)
- 1919-1921 Babe Ruth: 241.22 -> 2nd
- 2023-2025 Shohei Ohtani: 184.00 -> 18th
Lowest 3-Year Peak ERA-: 1916-2025 (minimum 1,000 outs pitched)
- 1917-1919 Babe Ruth: 86.02 -> 112th (Ruth started playing before 1916, but that doesn’t affect his three-year peaks)
- 2021-2023 Shohei Ohtani: 67.12 -> 11th
Six of the pitchers with a better three-year peak ERA- than Ohtani were primarily relievers (more relief appearances than starts over the span), which means Ohtani ranks fifth in the category among primary starters. His biggest enemy is his heath since, at his peak, he’s a top-20 hitter and pitcher over the last 110 seasons – enough to make him my personal MLB GOAT.
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