How this instrument works
On-base plus slugging (OPS) is exactly what its name says: on-base percentage (OBP) added to slugging percentage (SLG). OBP measures how often a batter reaches base by a hit, walk, or hit-by-pitch; SLG measures total bases earned per at bat, weighting extra-base hits more heavily than singles. Adding the two produces a single figure that rewards a hitter for doing either job well, or both.
OPS spread quickly through baseball analysis in the 1980s and 1990s because it captured more offensive value than batting average alone while still being simple enough to compute by hand from two numbers a fan already had. It isn't a perfectly weighted stat — OBP and SLG aren't on identical scales, so adding them gives slightly more implicit weight to slugging than a more careful blended metric would — but that simplicity is exactly why it became a standard sight on broadcast graphics and baseball cards.
Because OPS is a sum of two rates rather than a single ratio computed from raw counting stats, this calculator takes OBP and SLG directly as inputs rather than hits, walks, and total bases. That keeps it useful for quickly combining figures you already have — from a box score, a stat page, or this site's own OBP and slugging-percentage instruments — without re-entering every underlying counting stat.
- Enter On-base percentage (OBP) as a decimal, such as 0.350 for a .350 OBP.
- Enter Slugging percentage (SLG) as a decimal, such as 0.450 for a .450 SLG.
- Read On-base plus slugging (OPS) — the instrument simply adds the two values you entered.
- If you only have raw counting stats, work out OBP and SLG on this site's dedicated calculators first, then bring those two results here.
- Compare the OPS figure to league benchmarks rather than judging it in isolation — an OPS around .700 to .800 is roughly average in modern MLB, with .900-plus considered an excellent season.
Worked example — .350 OBP, .450 SLG
A hitter posts a .350 on-base percentage and a .450 slugging percentage over a season. OPS is simply 0.35 + 0.45 = 0.800 — a strong, above-average offensive season by modern MLB standards, roughly in line with what a solid everyday regular or a good complementary hitter might post.
Two very different hitters can land on the same OPS: one who walks a lot but hits for little power might reach .350 OBP with only a .350 SLG (OPS .700), while a free-swinging slugger might post a .300 OBP with a .500 SLG for the same .800 total as the example above — OPS alone can't tell those two offensive profiles apart, which is why analysts often look at OBP and SLG separately as well.
Questions
What is a good OPS in baseball?
In modern MLB, league-average OPS typically sits around .700 to .720. An OPS in the .800s marks a good-to-very-good offensive season, .900 and above is excellent and usually All-Star caliber, and anything over 1.000 for a full season is an MVP-level outlier achieved by only a handful of hitters league-wide in a given year. Context like ballpark and era matters, since league-wide offensive levels shift over time.
Why does OPS just add OBP and SLG instead of weighting them?
Simplicity was the point. OPS was popularized as a stat fans and broadcasters could compute from two numbers already on a scoreboard or stat sheet, without needing a more complex formula. More refined metrics like weighted on-base average (wOBA) do apply proper statistical weights to each outcome, generally rating OBP as somewhat more valuable per point than SLG, but OPS trades that precision for being instantly calculable and easy to explain.
Can OPS be higher than 2.000?
In theory, yes — OBP tops out at 1.000 (reaching base every plate appearance) and SLG tops out at 4.000 (a home run, worth 4 total bases, on every at bat), so OPS could theoretically approach 5.000. In practice, no real MLB season has come remotely close; single-season OPS records sit around 1.400 to 1.500, so anything meaningfully above 1.000 already represents a historically exceptional year.
Where do I get the OBP and SLG numbers to enter here?
Any published box score, stat page, or season summary lists OBP and SLG directly for MLB players. If you're working from raw counting stats instead — hits, walks, at bats, and so on — this site's on-base-percentage and slugging-percentage calculators compute those two rates for you, and their results plug straight into this OPS calculator.
Does OPS account for stolen bases or defense?
No. OPS is purely a hitting stat built from on-base and slugging rates; it says nothing about baserunning, defense, or a player's overall value to a team. Broader value metrics like WAR (wins above replacement) fold in baserunning and defensive contributions alongside offense, but OPS itself stays deliberately narrow — a quick read on hitting production only.