Does adding Shohei Ohtani give Dodgers MLB's best hitting trio of all time?

After a full year of pondering where Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman rank in the pantheon of offensive duos in the game’s history, the Los Angeles Dodgers have somehow managed to up the ante.

Betts (163) and Freeman (161) ranked fourth and sixth respectively in OPS+ among qualified hitters in 2023. One of the few players ahead of them on the leaderboard with an MLB-best mark of 184? The guy they just promised $700 million.

Questions about Shohei Ohtani’s long-term future as a two-way player remain murky following the second major elbow surgery of his career. What is no longer in doubt is his status as one of baseball’s most fearsome hitters. The 29-year-old Ohtani will soon combine with Betts (31) and Freeman (34) — not to mention a mix of several other good hitters — to form a trio atop the Dodgers lineup with the potential to be one of the best we’ve seen in years, if not ever.

Sticking with OPS+, we wouldn’t even need these three to fully replicate the massive campaigns they just delivered for them to join a rare group of collective offensive excellence. Forget 161 or 184 — just 19 teams in MLB history have had three different players post a 150 OPS+ or higher over at least 400 plate appearances. Only seven of those 19 have occurred since integration, with the most recent example being the 2014 Tigers (Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martínez, J.D. Martinez). Raise the standard to the 160 OPS+ mark that Betts, Freeman, and Ohtani just cleared and 19 clubs shrink to five, with only three coming in the past 100 years (1929 Yankees, 1963 Giants, 2000 Giants).

When we’re talking strictly about teams with Babe Ruth, Willie Mays or Barry Bonds, you know things are getting serious.

Baseball-Reference’s oWAR is another measure by which L.A.’s new trio excelled in 2023. Betts, Freeman and Ohtani were three of just seven hitters to accrue at least 6.0 oWAR, alongside Ronald Acuna Jr., Matt Olson, Corey Seager, and Juan Soto. There have been only nine instances in MLB history where three teammates produced at least 6.0 oWAR in the same season.

2007 New York Yankees

Álex Rodríguez: 9.5 oWAR (OPS+: 176)
Jorge Posada: 6.6 (153)
Derek Jeter: 6.3 (121)

2004 St. Louis Cardinals

Albert Pujols: 7.9 (173)
Jim Edmonds: 7.1 (171)
Scott Rolen: 6.2 (158)

2002 New York Yankees

Jason Giambi: 7.0 (172)
Bernie Williams: 6.7 (141)
Alfonso Soriano: 6.2 (129)

1997 Seattle Mariners

Ken Griffey Jr: 7.6 (165)
Edgar Martínez: 6.2 (165)
Álex Rodríguez: 6.2 (120)

1996 Seattle Mariners

Álex Rodríguez: 8.5 (161)
Ken Griffey Jr: 6.6 (154)
Edgar Martínez: 6.5 (167)

1963 San Francisco Giants

Willie Mays: 9.1 (175)
Orlando Cepeda: 6.7 (165)
Willie McCovey: 6.3 (161)

1942 New York Yankees

Charlie Keller: 6.4 (163)
Joe DiMaggio: 6.0 (147)
Joe Gordon: 6.0 (155)

1929 New York Yankees

Babe Ruth: 7.9 (193)
Tony Lazzeri: 7.5 (160)
Lou Gehrig: 7.2 (166)

1927 New York Yankees

Babe Ruth: 11.4 (225)
Lou Gehrig: 11.3 (220)
Earle Combs: 6.3 (141)

How realistic is it for the 2024 Dodgers to make that list? The 2023 batted ball data of Ohtani, Betts and Freeman suggests their future success is a safe bet. Consider, only six players were in the 95th percentile or above in expected batting average, expected on-base percentage and expected slugging last year, and three will now be Dodgers:

Shohei Ohtani (95th pct. xBA, 98th pct. xOBP, 99th pct. xSLG)
Ronald Acuña Jr. (100th pct. xBA, 100th pct. xOBP, 100th pct. xSLG)
Yordan Álvarez (97th pct. xBA, 99th pct. xOBP, 99th pct. xSLG)
Corey Seager (99th pct. xBA, 95th pct. xOBP, 98th pct. xSLG)
Freddie Freeman (99th pct. xBA, 98th pct. xOBP, 98th pct. xSLG)
Mookie Betts (95th pct. xBA, 97th pct. xOBP, 97th pct. xSLG)

If expected stats don’t do it for you, the Dodgers trio has the raw stats covered, as well. One of the most convincing measures by which a hitter can demonstrate their all-around offensive impact is by clearing three distinct thresholds within a traditional stat line: batting over .300, reaching base at least 40 percent of the time, and posting a slugging percentage above .500. Clearing any one of these benchmarks usually results in above-average production for a hitter, but achieving all three over the course of a full season is something only a handful of players do in a given year — and almost exclusively by the game’s very best.

Not only did Ohtani set a career-high in OBP (.412) and SLG (.654) in 2023, his .304 batting average put him in the .300/.400/.500 club for the first time as a major-leaguer — he also pulled this off in each of his final two seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball. Only four other qualified hitters reached these marks, with Betts and Freeman among them. It was Freeman’s fifth such season, the second-most among active players behind only Joey Votto. Only two teams in the integration era have featured three players concurrently reaching the .300/.400/.500 benchmark: Cleveland in 1995 (Albert Belle, Manny Ramírez, Jim Thome) and St. Louis in 2004 (Jim Edmonds, Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen).

In much simpler terms, the fact that three former and reigning MVPs who are still at the peaks of their powers are joining forces is a tremendously rare occurrence throughout baseball history. The Big Red Machine of the 1970s is the gold standard in this regard, as the primes of Johnny Bench (MVP in 1970 and 1972), Pete Rose (MVP in 1973) and Joe Morgan (MVP in 1975 and 1976) overlapped for several years before George Foster finished MVP runner-up to Morgan in 1976 and then won the award the following year as Cincinnati began to descend.

Multiple Yankees teams before this featured at least three MVPs, which included the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Elston Howard. None of these iterations, though, involved an entire trio in its prime or producing in the prolific manner of the aforementioned Reds. There have been other memorable collections of stars (e.g. in Cleveland and Seattle in the 90s) where primes better aligned, yet neither club boasted three MVP winners.

The 2024 Dodgers, meanwhile, possess depth beyond its MVPs that figures to be a stark departure from what Ohtani was surrounded by in Anaheim. Consider where the Angels ranked in team wRC+ in each of the six seasons with Ohtani on their roster (not to mention that Mike Trout fellow):

2018: 14th
2019: 15th
2020: 10th
2021: 21st
2022: 23rd
2023: 14th

L.A. has ranked no lower than seventh in each of the past seven seasons. That includes plenty of high-end contributions from players no longer on the roster, but still goes to show the standard we’ve come to expect from Dodgers lineups on a yearly basis. Even beyond the tremendous top three of Ohtani, Betts and Freeman, Will Smith, Max Muncy, and James Outman all project as above-average hitters for their positions — at worst — with clear upside to be more than merely good.

If the Dodgers opt to keep Betts and Freeman atop the order and slot Ohtani third, either Smith or Muncy would represent some of the best protection Ohtani has ever gotten (Trout rarely hit behind Ohtani in Anaheim). And if Ohtani bats second ahead of Freeman, he could get even more pitches to pulverize from pitchers who would rather challenge him than deal with his high-contact colleague.

We can ponder batting order permutations all winter long until Ohtani reports to Camelback Ranch in February or makes his Dodgers debut in Seoul, South Korea in March. No matter how manager Dave Roberts shuffles the lineup, it will be far tougher for opposing teams to avoid Ohtani to the degree that they have over the past three years. He’s drawn an MLB-leading 59 intentional walks during this span, which obviously doesn’t include the countless instances when he was pitched to especially carefully or around entirely.

Now, before we get too swept up in the hype, it’s worth noting: This terrific new trio isn’t the only star-studded collection of sluggers we have to look forward to in 2024. Loaded lineups in Atlanta, Houston and Texas, just to name a few, have shown how dangerous they can be as cohesive offensive units. And if I’m not mistaken, the Yankees just traded for a decent bat (Juan Soto) to pair with Aaron Judge.

An assembly of All-Stars doesn’t guarantee postseason success, either — L.A.’s crash out of the postseason at the hands of the 84-win Diamondbacks was the latest humbling reminder of that reality. And sometimes, our grand visions for a potentially legendary lineup fall frightfully short of expectations, because, well, you can’t predict baseball (see: 2023 San Diego Padres).

Nevertheless, the best versions of Betts, Freeman and Ohtani producing alongside one another would be something to behold. Ohtani won’t be able to wow us with two-way achievements next year, but his new teammates might help him find a new way to make baseball history with one of the best lineups we’ve ever seen.