The Los Angeles Dodgers are humming along through the season as they look to defend their World Series crown, and they are still led by Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani made his return to the mound this season after recovering from Tommy John surgery, but he is still doing elite work offensively while he gets back into his groove as a pitcher.
Ohtani is ramping up on the mound still, but he is still arguably the best hitter in baseball. There are very few players like Ohtani that hit for both power and contact while producing runs at the incredible rate that he does. While Ohtani drives in plenty of runs for his teammates, it’s the ones he scores himself that may be the most impressive.
The Japanese superstar crossed the plate twice on Saturday night in a very impressive 9-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, bringing his season total to 110 runs in 2025. The second-place run-scorer in the National League currently has just 80 runs, making this the first time since 1932 that the gap in the NL has been 30 or more in that department according to OptaStats.
“Shohei Ohtani has scored 110 runs this year. No one else in the NL has more than 80,” OptaStats wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “This is the first time an NL player has had at least 30 more runs than any other player in the Senior Circuit at the end of any given day since 1932, when Chuck Klein led by as many as 37 runs.”
Kyle Schwarber, Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto and Elly De La Cruz have all scored 80 runs this season, but they are well off the pace that Ohtani has set out in Los Angeles. If you expand it out to the entire MLB and include the American League, only New York Yankees star Aaron Judge (92) has scored more than 80 runs.
That ability to get on base and do damage on the base paths is precisely why Dave Roberts has Ohtani hitting leadoff in the Dodgers lineup. More plate appearances for the reigning NL MVP means more chances for him to get on base and put runs on the board for the Dodgers.
