Baseball has always been one of the most popular sports in the United States and Canada. Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest form of professional baseball comprising the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). Both leagues used to function independently before 2000. The creation of MLB brought these leagues under one roof. MLB has been supervising the games in both leagues since 2000.
Major League Baseball consists of 30 teams, of which, 29 are spread throughout the United States and one in Canada. These teams start the season every year by competing against one another in the regular season. After the respective division champions are crowned, they move on to the postseason and play the Wild Card, Division Series, and League Championship Series games before the final, where one team becomes the MLB World Series Champion every season.
Meaning of OPS in baseball
OPS in MLB stands for On-base Plus Slugging, as per MLB's official site. This concept is used to evaluate batters by combining how well they can hit for power and average along with how well they can reach base. Therefore, it adds up the slugging percentage along with the on-base percentage to get a single number for the batters. Notably, OPS can also be used to evaluate pitchers in the game.
List of All-time OPS leaders in Major League Baseball (MLB)
The following table shows all the players that have been all-time leaders in OPS in MLB as per the MLB official site -
| Player Name | Position | On-base Plus Slugging (OPS) |
| Josh Wilson | Catcher | 1.177 |
| Babe Ruth | Right Fielder | 1.164 |
| Ted Williams | Left Fielder | 1.116 |
| Lou Gehrig | First Baseman | 1.079 |
| Oscar Charleston | Outfielder | 1.062 |
| Barry Bonds | Left Fielder | 1.051 |
| Buck Leonard | First Baseman | 1.042 |
| Jimmie Foxx | First Baseman | 1.037 |
| Turkey Stearns | Outfielder | 1.033 |
| Mule Suttles | First Baseman | 1.031 |
| Hank Greenberg | First Baseman | 1.017 |
| Roger Hornsby | Second Baseman | 1.011 |
| Manny Ramirez | Left Fielder | .996 |
| Mike Trout | Center Fielder | .991 |
| Mark McGwire | First Baseman | .982 |
| Mickey Mantle | Center Fielder | .978 |
| Joe DiMaggio | Center Fielder | .977 |
| Stan Musial | Outfielder | .977 |
| Frank Thomas | Designated Hitter | .974 |
| Larry Walker | Right Fielder | .965 |
| Jud Wilson | Third Baseman | .960 |
| Johnny Mize | First Baseman | .959 |
| Jim Thome | First Baseman | .956 |
| Todd Helton | First Baseman | .953 |
| Jeff Bagwell | First Baseman | .948 |
OPS in MLB FAQs
A. OPS in MLB can be calculated by adding the on-base percentage and the slugging percentage of a batter.
A. Josh Wilson has the highest OPS in MLB with an OPS of 1.177 as of 2024.
A. Barry Bonds’ career OPS is 1.051.
A. OPS is more important than batting average because it shows both his hitting skills and on-base skills.
A. Yes, OPS include batting average.
