MLB players, managers on the decline of the first baseman - ESPN

On the fictional St. Louis Wolves team in Abbott and Costello's famed routine, the third baseman's name is I Don't Know, which is appropriate because, for large stretches of baseball history, teams have tried, often without success, to find a quality third baseman. And yet, in 2025, it appears the search has shifted across the diamond. For one of the few times in major league history, we're asking, Who's on First?

First base is a position in flux. In 2024, major league first basemen batted .246, their lowest total since 1900. They also posted an OPS of .736, their lowest since 1968, the Year of the Pitcher (the highest OPS by first basemen in any season was .882 in 2000, during the steroid era, and a little more recently, .853 in 2006). A first baseman has won a Most Valuable Player Award 32 times, most of any position (right field is second), but last season marked the second time in 10 years that no first baseman finished in the top five of the MVP balloting.

«There are probably only five or six [starting first basemen in the game now] who fit the mold of a typical first baseman, but there are 24 or 25 who don't,'' said Pat Tabler, who played 444 games at first base in the major leagues from 1981 to 1992. „In my fantasy baseball league, if you don't get one of those five or six top guys, you got no chance. Now, you're just like, 'Whatever happened to the Eddie Murrays? Where are the Eddie Murrays today?'''

There is still talent at the position. Freddie Freeman, the MVP of the 2024 World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers, is a great player, a future Hall of Famer, as is the Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper, who is starting his second full season at first base. The Atlanta Braves' Matt Olson hit 54 home runs in 2023.