Shohei Ohtani the 3rd Dodger with 700 total bases over 2 years
Eric Stephen is the managing editor of True Blue LA, where he’s covered the Dodgers since 2009, and the co-host of the Three-Inning Save podcast. He’s on Bluesky at @ericstephen.bsky.social.
Shohei Ohtani did not get a hit nor score a run on Friday against the Padres, though he did drive in the Dodgers’ first run with a fielder’s choice groundout.
Friday snapped a streak of eight straight games with an extra-base hit for Ohtani, one shy of the franchise record. His string of scoring runs was also stopped at eight games, one shy of his longest streak with the Dodgers, set last season.
But even with Friday’s relatively quiet game, Ohtani has been quite productive in August hitting .396/.525/.813 with five home runs. Hie homer off Kenley Jansen on Tuesday in Anaheim gave him 290 total bases on the season. Coupled with Ohtani’s Los Angeles Dodgers record of 411 total bases last season, he’s just the third player in franchise history with 700 total bases over a two-year span.
Ohtani led the majors last season in total bases, and leads the majors this year as well with 293 total bases, with a triple on Wednesday his latest addition.
Way back in March we talked about the possibility of Ohtani putting up prolific total base numbers, and how rare this is in team history. Both Babe Herman and Duke Snider had two such streaks, each spread over three seasons.
Most Dodgers total bases in a 2-year span
- Babe Herman (1929-1930) 764
- Duke Snider (1953-54) 748
- Babe Herman (1930-31) 736
- Duke Snider (1954-55) 716
- Shohei Ohtani (2024-25) 704 & counting
The Dodgers still have 40 games remaining for Ohtani to add to these totals, with a good chance of topping that franchise list over a two-year span.
Aside from Ohtani’s 736 total bases from 2023-24, his 2024-25 total is the highest in a two-year span since Miguel Cabrera totaled 730 total bases for the Tigers in 2012-13.
There are only 52 individual seasons of at least 300 total bases in Dodgers history, and Ohtani is just seven total bases shy of becoming the 14th such player with two years in a row with at least 300, joining Jack Fournier (1923-25), Zack Wheat (1924-25), Babe Herman (1929-31), Johnny Frederick (1929-30), Duke Snider (1953-56), Steve Garvey (1974-75, 1977-80), Pedro Guerrero (1982-83), Mike Piazza (1996-97), Raúl Mondesí (1996-97), Gary Sheffield (2000-01), Shawn Green (2001-02), Mookie Betts (2022-23), and Freddie Freeman (2022-23).
Ohtani is on pace for 389 total bases this season, putting him within striking distance of a second straight season with 400 total bases. That’s only been achieved three times, by Chuck Klein (1929-30), Jimmie Foxx (1932-33), and Todd Helton (2000-01).
Helton totaled 807 total bases for the Rockies in 2000-01, the same years Sammy Sosa totaled 808 for the Cubs. Since then, nobody has 800 total bases over a two-year span. Ohtani is 96 away from joining them, with 40 Dodgers games left on the schedule.
Since the start of 2024, there have been 206 chances for Ohtani to play in 40 games within the same season, and he’s totaled at lest 96 total bases in 101 of them, just under half (49 percent) the time.
