Peak OPS+
Peak OPS+ is the average of a player’s five best consecutive seasons in on base average plus slugging average, that figure normalized for the era and park in which each player competed. A rating of 100 is average, but these greats are without exception way above that level.
Pujols’ peak period for OPS+ occurred between 2006 and 2010. As a Cardinals first baseman for that period, he averaged 177.8 OPS+ for the five-season block. In a nutshell, that’s 77.8 percent better than the average player of his time.
He led the National League in that category four of the five seasons, peaking at 192 in 2008. That was the year he won his second of an eventual three MVP awards, the others coming in 2005 and 2009.
Compared with our field of two dozen greats, that 177.8 average leaves Pujols barely outside the top 10 all-time. Here are the top 10.
Rank Player Avg. Seasons
1 Barry Bonds 242.8 2000-2004
2 Babe Ruth 227.0 1920-1924
3 Ted Williams 224.6 1952-1956
4 Rogers Hornsby 203.6 1921-1925
5 Ty Cobb 197.4 1909-1913
6 Lou Gehrig 195.2 1927-1931
7 Mickey Mantle 190.0 1955-1959
8 Jimmie Foxx 186.2 1932-1936
9 Honus Wagner 184.6 1904-1908
10 Stan Musial 178.4 1948-1952
11 Albert Pujols 177.8 2006-2010