Shohei Ohtani is having the single greatest season ever

When you think of the all-time greatest individual MLB seasons, what comes to mind?

On the pitching side you’d probably say Pedro Martinez’s otherworldly 2000 season or Bob Gibson’s history-defining 1968 showcase. For hitters it’s probably Barry Bonds’ record setting 2001 or any one of Babe Ruth’s seasons from the 1920s.

Seasons like these have an almost mythical reverence to them, while the men who played them have transformed into modern American folk heroes.

I mention all of this because what Shohei Ohtani is doing right now for the LA Angels might just top every single one of them.

Shohei Ohtani is quite possibly having the best season in MLB history.

Anyone who even remotely cares about baseball probably already knows of Shohei Ohtani’s historic two-way exploits.

From being both the starting pitcher and starting DH in the All-Star game to being the runaway favorite for American League MVP, the man has quite literally done it all.

But just how good are Ohtani’s numbers this year? And when all’s said and done, where will his historic season rank among the all-time greats?

Before moving on, it should be noted that when using WAR in this debate, the numbers get a little finicky when talking about two-way players. This is due to the value they bring to the game being much different than that of a regular player.

In other words, WAR calculations aren’t designed to account for guys like Ohtani, due to them technically filling two roster spots for the price of one.

So while there are hundreds of individual seasons where players put up higher WAR totals than Ohtani projects to have, that doesn’t necessarily mean that what those players did was better or more impressive than what Shohei is doing right now.

While Ohtani’s pitching stats are undeniably elite, they do come with the caveat that he’s simply pitching less than most other starters. The same handicap, however, doesn’t apply to his offensive numbers.

What Shohei Ohtani is doing with the bat is approaching historical levels of greatness.

Having more than enough at bats to qualify, the numbers really speak for themselves here.

As of August 7, Ohtani is number one in MLB with 37 home runs, an 8.7% home run rate, 65 extra base hits, a .653 slugging percentage, a .385 ISO, and to top it all off, 4.3 fWAR as a hitter.

On top of all of this, Ohtani is also third in OPS (1.014), second in wRC+ (170), third in RBIs (82), and eighth in runs scored (74).

It really should go without saying, but Ohtani is not only the best power hitter in baseball right now. He is on track to become one of the greatest ever, and this is only his third season.

Looking at his baseball savant page, things start to get even more absurd as we see that Ohtani leads the entire league in xSLG (.649), max exit velocity (119 mph) and barrel rate (24.8%).

He also just barely misses out on the top spots in hard hit rate (56.2%) and average exit velocity (93.9 mph).

At this point I almost feel bad for the poor baseballs he’s mutilating on a daily basis.

Utilizing all sides of the field and being able to hit every type of fastball (.764 SLG), breaking ball (.620) and offspeed pitch (.494), Ohtani is so much more than your run-of-the-mill dead-pull power hitter.

Oh, and just because he has to be good at everything, Ohtani is also in the 92nd percentile in sprint speed, averaging 28.8 ft/sec with 15 steals.

With that in mind, here’s where things start to get historical for Ohtani.

There’s a very realistic chance that come October, he will join the likes of Willie Mays, Brady Anderson, Ken Griffey Jr., and Alex Rodriguez as just the fifth member of the exclusive 50-20 club. That is at least 50 home runs and 20 stolen bases in a single season.

What about at least 50 home runs and 30 doubles in a single season? With 24 doubles at the moment, Ohtani looks primed to become only the 17th player in history to accomplish this.

Want to get even crazier? How about the 50-30-20 club. That’s at least 50 home runs, 30 doubles and 20 stolen bases in a single season. It’s looking like a no doubter that Ohtani will join Brady Anderson and Ken Griffey Jr. as just the third member of this club.

This is what you call an all-time great hitting season.

If it wasn’t already clear, what Ohtani is doing is simply on another level.

At this point we’ve all heard the comparisons to Babe Ruth, but honestly, these two aren’t even in the same league anymore, at least not when talking about their two-way capabilities.

Shohei Ohtani is already a better two-way player than Babe Ruth ever was.

Something most people don’t realize when talking about The Babe is that during his stint as a two-way player, he was only effective in both roles at the same time during the 1918 and 1919 seasons.

Outside of those two seasons, he was either primarily a pitcher with limited time as a hitter (1914-1917), or primarily a hitter who only made five more pitching appearances total (1920-1935).

In 1918 and 1919, as a pitcher, Ruth owned a 2.22 ERA (122 ERA+) and 2.97 ERA (102 ERA+), totaling 1.5 fWAR and 0.5 fWAR in them, respectively.

As a hitter, he put up 189 wRC+ and a league-leading 11 home runs in 1918 (5.2 fWAR) before exploding a year later with 29 home runs and 203 wRC+ (9.4 fWAR).

Combined, Ruth was worth 6.7 fWAR in 1918 and 9.9 fWAR in 1919. In other words, 1919 is the current high mark for the title of greatest two-way season ever which, for the sake of argument, also makes it the most impressive individual season ever as well.

As of right now, Ohtani has already accumulated 6.5 fWAR in 2021. It’ll be close, but with just over 50 games left in the season, Ohtani may very well eclipse Ruth’s historic WAR mark.

If that happens, then there will be no denying that Shohei Ohtani’s 2021 season is the greatest two-way season in baseball history and, by default, the single greatest individual season of all time.