Total bases is not a statistic mentioned often. Accumulating 400 total bases in a season doesn’t have the panache of, say, batting .400.
Leave it to Shohei Ohtani to reach another rare milestone and prompt statisticians to dive back into the digital record books. He became the first player in 23 years and only 19th in baseball history to reach 400 total bases Thursday night when the Dodgers clinched the National League West title.
So, are total bases meaningful?
Bill James, the godfather of modern baseball analytics, thought so. He included the stat in the seminal Runs Created formula he devised in the 1970s, which simply counts times on base, multiplied by bases advanced, divided by opportunities.
Bases advanced, in a nutshell, are total bases: a single counts as one, a double as two, a triple as three and a home run as four. Attaining 400 total bases reflects uncommon power and relentless offensive production.
Ohtani reached the milestone with his last hit Thursday, a bloop double in the eighth inning of a 7-2 victory over the San Diego Padres. He became the first player to reach 400 since four players did so during the steroids-fueled offensive binge of 2001.
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The 18 previous players to reach 400 achieved it 29 times among them. It was a relatively frequent occurrence in the 1920s and 1930s after a livelier baseball was introduced, then was rarely attained until the steroids era.
Babe Ruth set the record of 457 total bases in 1921 and accumulated 417 in 1927, the year he hit 60 home runs. His New York Yankees teammate Lou Gehrig eclipsed 400 total bases a record five times, and fellow Hall of Famers Jimmie Foxx, Chuck Klein and Rogers Hornsby each accomplished it twice.
The milestone was rarely reached thereafter. Stan Musial was the only player to reach 400 in the 1940s and Henry Aaron the only player in the 1950s. Jim Rice posted 405 total bases in 1978 and Larry Walker, playing home games in the thin air of Coors Field, had 409 in 1997.
Walker’s teammate with the Rockies, Todd Helton, twice eclipsed 400, as did Sammy Sosa. Helton, Sosa, Barry Bonds and Luis Gonzalez all cracked 400 in 2001, and nobody else did so until Ohtani. Aaron Judge is hot on his heels at 392 after hitting his 58th home run Thursday, one more total base than he finished with in 2022.
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Ohtani has already set records in his first season as a Dodger, becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season. He currently has 53 homers and 56 stolen bases to go with a .305 batting average and NL-leading totals of 126 runs batted in, 131 runs scored, a .387 on-base percentage and a .643 slugging percentage as the Dodgers conclude the regular season with a three-game series at the Colorado Rockies on Friday night.
He’s delivered when the Dodgers needed it most as they fended off a surge by the Padres the last few weeks. In his last seven games, Ohtani accounted for 40 total bases by going 20 for 29 — including five home runs and five doubles — with 16 RBIs and 13 runs.
Remaining that hot through the weekend could possibly result in him winning the triple crown. His batting average is third behind the Padres’ Luis Arráez (.312) and the Atlanta Braves’ Marcell Azuna (.310).
As onlookers marvel at Ohtani’s litany of staggering accomplishments, it’s easy to overlook his 400 total bases. But he’s joined a club that is more exclusive than that of pitchers who have thrown a perfect game (24 members).
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Ohtani has a lot of climbing to ascend to the top of the total bases career list. He has 1,781 after posting four consecutive seasons with more than 300, but the all-time record is a daunting 6,856 by Aaron.
Who among active players has the most total bases? Ohtani doesn’t have to look far. It’s his teammate, Freddie Freeman, with 3,866. The veteran first baseman has eclipsed 300 total bases six times and his career high is 361, set last season.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
