Major League Baseball is simply loaded with star players in the game today.
A somewhat new statistic is used to determine the best of the best players in their respective leagues.
WAR stands for wins above replacement, and simply put, it takes into account all aspects of a player’s game and determines how many wins he is worth over a replacement-level player.
One player in the National League stands out among all the rest.
According to Baseball Reference on ‘X,’ Shohei Ohtani leads the entire National League in WAR with a rating of 8.4.
2024 NL Position Player WAR Leaders
Shohei Ohtani (8.4)
Matt Chapman (6.9)
Ketel Marte (6.7)
Francisco Lindor (6.6)All Leaders: https://t.co/Dr7CgkeLXV pic.twitter.com/SsAf8ZhiyQ
— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) September 23, 2024
Ohtani has been great in 2024 since coming over to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He is batting .301 with 53 home runs, 123 runs batted in, and a 1.023 on-base plus slugging percentage.
Not only does Ohtani have the power factor in his game, but he also has the speed factor with 55 stolen bases on the season.
His 8.4 WAR rating is 1.5 higher than the second-place player Matt Chapman of the San Francisco Giants.
Some other big names that Ohtani is ahead of on the list are his teammates Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
The Dodgers have a record of 93 wins and 63 losses this season with their magic number sitting at 4 to clinch the National League West over the San Diego Padres.
With a playoff spot already clinched, the Dodgers will make their 12th straight postseason appearance.
Ohtani and the Dodgers will look to make a deep playoff run and make their first World Series appearance since 2020 when they beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2.
NEXT: Stats Show How Shohei Ohtani Has Made Franchise History