Opening Day is more than a designation on a calendar. It is a feeling, a mantra, a phrase you can repeat during meditation to promote relaxation and shift mindset. Summer is coming. Baseball is back.
The experience of becoming a baseball fan hasn’t changed much over generations. People care about their teams, their players, and classic stats like home runs. Fans love their local announcers. They love going to their home ballpark, and when traveling, going to a stadium that a different set of fans calls home.
There are certain aspects that have changed considerably. I’m old enough to have become a baseball fan when no one knew or cared how much any of the players earned.
Salaries and payrolls weren’t public knowledge, and even MLB players didn’t know what other players earned. Not saying it was a good thing for players to be unaware. It wasn’t. It was just different for media covering the sport and fans that enjoy the game.
Now, young fans who have zero knowledge of banking and financial terms can rattle off their favorite team’s players whose contracts have a mutual or vesting option. They probably know how much of Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million contract is deferred.
They know that Framber Valdez and Bo Bichette turned down qualifying offers in the offseason, while Trent Grisham accepted his Q.O. and returned to the Yankees.
Is it just one more aspect of the game for rabid fans to know? There’s an endless supply of information available to baseball fans today. I understand the appeal of learning analytics. Having data to show Max Fried not allowing hard contact, or Paul Skenes’ fastball velocity, makes perfect sense. But knowing and caring how much they earn?
When I was growing up, there was little or no attention to the general manager, which has morphed into a department headed by the “president of baseball operations.” Now, young fans want to work in front offices as their dream job.
Does knowing about the salaries enhance the fan experience, or take away from it? Does the fact that the Dodgers have a payroll of around $400 million lessen their achievement of winning the World Series?
The salary information just isn’t why I love baseball. I love baseball numbers. Here are the numbers that just sing to me.
Shohei Ohtani scored 146 runs last season.
a) Ohtani scored 146, and no one else in the National League scored more than 120 (Juan Soto).
b) Those 146 runs mean Ohtani scored 146 of the Dodgers’ 825 runs. Since the start of baseball’s integration in 1947, of players with 140+ runs scored in a season, only two player seasons have scored a higher percentage of their team’s runs than Ohtani’s 2025 season of 17.7% (Craig Biggio in 1997 and Sammy Sosa in 2001 both scored 146, each accounting for 18.8% of their teams’ 777 total runs).
c) Ohtani’s 146 runs in a season are the third most since 2000 (Jeff Bagwell scored 152 runs in 2000, Ronald Acuña, Jr. scored 149 runs in 2023).
d) Ohtani has scored 280 runs in the last two seasons. In the last 80 years (since 1946) only one player has scored more (Bagwell scored 295 runs in 1999 and 2000 seasons).
e) Ohtani scored 159 runs last season (including postseason) and only Aaron Judge (142) scored more than 120 besides the great Ohtani when you count playoffs.
f) The only players in the modern era of baseball history (since 1900) to score more than 159 runs in one season (regular plus postseason) are Babe Ruth (3 times), Lou Gehrig (2 times), and Rogers Hornsby (160 runs in 1929).
g) Shohei Ohtani led the majors in 2024 with 134 runs scored (next most: 128 by Soto), and 148 runs including postseason. Ohtani scored 14 runs in 16 playoff games.
h) Shohei Ohtani has scored 307 runs the last two years including postseason. Do you have any idea how outrageous that is?
Most Runs in Two Consecutive Seasons including postseason
1. 338 Babe Ruth (1920,21)
2. 314 Lou Gehrig (1936,37)
3. 307 Shohei Ohtani (2024, 25)
Now, I know that Ohtani plays in an era which allowed him to accumulate 33 postseason games in the last two years. And Ruth and Gehrig played in the era with 154 games, not 162. Ohtani scored those 307 runs in 350 games, more than Ruth (300 games) and Gehrig (314). But no one else in history -- not DiMaggio or Williams or Pujols or Bagwell or Jeter -- no other player scored 300 times in consecutive seasons.
Ohtani’s run-scoring ability makes him one of the greatest leadoff batters ever. He’s a natural in the No. 1 spot in the order, but it wasn’t always the case. In his six seasons with the Angels, he batted in the No. 1 spot just 63 times. In his first year with the Dodgers, Mookie Betts batted in the No. 1 spot in 72 of the first 73 games. Beginning on June 17, 2024, it became Shohei at the top of the order and Dave Roberts’ easiest decision.
That sent me down a rabbit hole wondering how and why Ohtani didn’t bat leadoff for, say, the 2023 Angels. Ohtani batted leadoff just five (of the 135 games he played) in 2023. Who did the Angels’ manager Phil Nevin bat leadoff that season? The answer is: NOT Mike Trout.
Most games out of leadoff spot for the 2023 Angels (73-89)
52 starts Taylor Ward
28 starts Nolan Schanuel
27 starts Mickey Moniak
25 starts Luis Rengifo
17 starts Zach Neto
7 starts Randal Grichuk
Should I say it was Goofyto bat Mickey (Moniak) ahead of Ohtani and Trout in all those games in Anaheim? Maybe. But the real issue is this: You want to give as many chances to your best hitters as possible.
Moniak batted .250/.277/.509 and scored 12 runs out of the leadoff spot in 2023. Taylor Ward batted .236/.308/.373 in 55 games (52 starts) hitting leadoff.
I know that over a season, it’s only about 15-18 more plate appearances that the No. 1 spot gets over the No. 2 spot in the lineup. Still, you want to load up as many plate appearances as possible for the MVP. Seems simple enough, but as you can see, it hasn’t always played out that way.
There are so many numbers that get thrown around when people discuss Ohtani. They are entranced by the home runs, the stolen bases, his strikeouts and velocity on the mound, and so much more. They discuss aspects of his massive and historic contract. I prefer looking at his runs total. In the end, baseball is a game made up of which side can score the most runs.
Editors' Note: Elliott Kalb - dubbed "Mr. Stats" decades ago by Marv Albert and Bob Costas - is the former Senior Editorial Director at MLB Network and a longtime contributor of research and information to NBC Sports' telecasts.
