For the sixth time in seven games, the Los Angeles Dodgers were winners Friday night, beating the Texas Rangers (LAD 8, TEX 7) thanks to Max Muncy’s walk-off home run. It was his third homer of the game and it picked up closer Edwin Díaz, who blew a three-run lead in the top of the ninth. The Dodgers have baseball’s best record at 10-3.
Muncy was the star Friday, but it was Shohei Ohtani who made history. He went 1 for 4 with a walk in the win and has now reached base safely in 44 consecutive games dating back to last season, which is a new record for a Japanese-born player. Here is the on-base streak leaderboard for Japanese players:
- Shohei Ohtani, 2025-26: 44 games and counting
- Ichiro Suzuki, 2009: 43 games
- Ichiro Suzuki, 2004: 40 games
- Ichiro Suzuki, 2004: 38 games
- Ichiro Suzuki, 2001: 38 games
Hideki Matsui is the only other Japanese-born player with an on-base streak of at least 30 games. He reached base safely in 36 straight games in 2005.
Ohtani’s 44-game on-base streak is the sixth longest by a Dodger in the Modern Era (since 1900), and is within striking distance of Hall of Famer Duke Snider’s franchise record (58 games in 1954). The longest on-base streak in baseball history is 84 games by Hall of Famer Ted Williams in 1949.
“It’s great,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters, including MLB.com, about Ohtani’s on-base streak after Friday’s game. “He’s taking walks, getting hits, and he hasn’t really got going yet. For us to win the games we’ve won, score the runs we’ve scored, and Sho isn’t going, he’s going to get hot. That’s a good thing for us.”
Ohtani is hitting .265/.406/.469 with three home runs and nearly as many walks (11) as strikeouts (15) this season. That is very good, though it is a notch below Ohtani’s usually offensive output. Last year, he slashed .282/.392/.622 with 55 home runs. It was his second straight 50-plus homer season.
In addition to the longest active on-base streak, Ohtani also has the longest active streak without allowing an earned run at 28 ⅔ innings dating back to last year. He’s thrown 12 innings in two starts this season and allowed just a single unearned run on five hits and four walks.
Ohtani, 32 in July, has won three straight MVPs and four in his career. All four have been unanimous.
