Going back to 1950, there have been eight individual seasons of at least 60 home runs. There has been only one in which a player has scored 150 runs.
In recent baseball history, it’s a statistical feat that is about as rare as it gets. But the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani is making a serious, well, run at it in 2025. He entered the season’s final week with 141 runs, which has been a difficult threshold for anyone to reach as well.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the best run scorers in Major League history.
How rare is a 140-run season?
In terms of recent history, very rare indeed. Before Ohtani, Ronald Acuña Jr. scored 149 runs during his 2023 NL MVP Award-winning season. But that was MLB’s first 140-run season since the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez scored 143 times in 2007.
Not surprisingly, 140-run seasons have tended to cluster in high-offense eras. There were a whopping 35 of them in the 1920s and ’30s. Counting Ohtani, there have been only 16 since then, nine of which came between 1993-2001.
Seasons of 140-plus runs
Expansion Era (Since 1961)
2025 – Shohei Ohtani (LAD), 141 (ongoing)
2023 – Ronald Acuña Jr. (ATL), 149
2007 – Alex Rodriguez (NYY), 143
2001 – Sammy Sosa (CHC), 146
2000 – Jeff Bagwell (HOU), 152
1999 – Jeff Bagwell (HOU), 143
1997 – Craig Biggio (HOU), 146
1997 – Larry Walker (COL), 143
1996 – Ellis Burks (COL), 142
1996 – Chuck Knoblauch (MIN), 140
1996 – Alex Rodriguez (SEA), 141
1993 – Lenny Dykstra (PHI), 143
1985 – Rickey Henderson (NYY), 146
Individual 140-run seasons by decade
Modern Era (Since 1900)
2020s – 2
2010s – 0
2000s – 2
1990s – 7
1980s – 1
1970s – 0
1960s – 0
1950s – 0
1940s – 3
1930s – 22
1920s – 13
1910s – 2
1900s – 2
Acuña fell just one run short of breaching the 150-runs-scored barrier in 2023. Still, the fact that he was even in the conversation is impressive when you consider how a 150-run season has been virtually unattainable for the past several decades.
Most recent seasons of 150-plus runs
2000 – Jeff Bagwell (HOU), 152
1949 – Ted Williams (BOS), 150
1937 – Joe DiMaggio (NYY), 151
That’s right: Nobody has reached the 150-run plateau in 25 years, with Bagwell the only player to do so going back to 1950. It happened in 2000, when the Hall of Fame first baseman slashed .310/.424/.615 with 47 home runs in 159 games as part of a high-powered Houston offense that also got huge seasons from Moises Alou (1.039 OPS) and Richard Hidalgo (1.028 OPS), among others.
Of the 19 instances of a 150-run season in the Modern Era, 17 occurred in the 1920s and ’30s, when a shorter season was counteracted by a wild offensive environment. Nearly a third of those came from Babe Ruth alone, all between 1920-30.
Who are the kings of reaching home?
If you’re looking at the entirety of Major League history, then Billy Hamilton — the Hall of Famer who played in the late 19th Century — tops the list. He crossed the plate 196 times for the 1894 Phillies, per the Elias Sports Bureau, posting a .521 OBP and stealing 100 bases for a team that hit a combined .350, scoring nearly nine runs per game. It was a different time, to say the least.
The Modern Era (since 1900) record holder is a more familiar name: Ruth. The Sultan of Swat scored 177 times in 1921, his second year with the Yankees.
Most runs scored in a season
Modern Era (Since 1900)
177 – Babe Ruth (1921 NYY)
167 – Lou Gehrig (1936 NYY)
163 – Lou Gehrig (1931 NYY)
163 – Babe Ruth (1928 NYY)
158 – Chuck Klein (1930 PHI)
158 – Babe Ruth (1927 NYY)
158 – Babe Ruth (1920 NYY)
Ruth (eight), Gehrig (four) and Williams (three) are the only players in the Modern Era with more than two seasons of 140 or more runs scored. Bagwell and Rodriguez are the only players with more than one since 1950.
