Baseball Almanac is pleased to present a record book full of baseball milestones for games lost by a pitcher — including career games lost marks, single season games lost plateaus and game related records.
"It's not embarrassing (setting the new all-time record for consecutive games lost by a pitcher in a career). Someone has to win and someone has to lose. I'm just losing." - Young, Anthony. Post Game Press Conference. 1993.
MLB Games Lost Record BookCareer Games Lost Records |
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Games Lost Records | LG | Pitcher(s) | Team(s) | Data | |
Most Games Lost In A Career | Top 1,000 |
AL | Walter Johnson | Washington | 279 | 279 |
NL | Pud Galvin | Buffalo | 179 | 267 | |
Pittsburgh | 82 | ||||
St. Louis | 6 | ||||
ML | Cy Young | Cleveland [NL] | 135 | 316 | |
St. Louis [NL] | 35 | ||||
Boston [NL] | 5 | ||||
Boston [AL] | 112 | ||||
Cleveland [AL] | 29 | ||||
Most Games Lost In A Career | LHP |
AL | Frank Tanana | California | 78 | 221 |
Boston | 10 | ||||
Texas | 49 | ||||
Detroit | 82 | ||||
New York | 2 | ||||
NL | Eppa Rixey | Philadelphia | 103 | 251 | |
Cincinnati | 148 | ||||
Most Games Lost In A Career | RHP |
AL | Walter Johnson | Washington | 279 | 279 |
NL | Pud Galvin | Buffalo | 179 | 267 | |
Pittsburgh | 82 | ||||
St. Louis | 6 | ||||
ML | Cy Young | Cleveland [NL] | 135 | 316 | |
St. Louis [NL] | 35 | ||||
Boston [NL] | 5 | ||||
Boston [AL] | 112 | ||||
Cleveland [AL] | 29 | ||||
Games Lost Records | LG | Pitcher(s) | Team(s) | Data | |
MLB Games Lost Record BookSingle Season Games Lost Records |
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Games Lost Records | LG | Pitcher(s) | Team(s) | Data | |
Most Games Lost In A Season | Top 500 |
AL | Bob Groom | Washington | 26 | 1909 |
Happy Townsend | Washington | 1904 | |||
NL | John Coleman | Philadelphia | 48 | 1883 | |
Most Games Lost In A Season | In Relief |
AL | John Hiller | Detroit | 14 | 1974 |
Darold Knowles | Washington | 1970 | |||
Mike Marshall | Minnesota | 1979 | |||
NL | Gene Garber | Atlanta | 16 | 1979 | |
Most Games Lost In A Season | Rookie |
AL | Bob Groom | Washington | 26 | 1909 |
NL | John Coleman | Philadelphia | 48 | 1883 | |
Most Games Lost In A Season | Consecutive |
AL | Jack Nabors | Philadelphia | 19 | 04-28-1916 |
05-09-1916 | |||||
05-27-1916 | |||||
06-16-1916 | |||||
06-24-1916 | |||||
06-29-1916 | |||||
07-03-1916 | |||||
07-08-1916 | |||||
07-16-1916 | |||||
07-21-1916 | |||||
07-27-1916 | |||||
08-01-1916 | |||||
08-08-1916 | |||||
08-14-1916 | |||||
09-01-1916 | |||||
09-04-1916 | |||||
09-07-1916 | |||||
09-14-1916 | |||||
09-28-1916 | |||||
NL | Roger Craig | New York | 18 | 05-04-1963 | |
05-13-1963 | |||||
05-17-1963 | |||||
05-19-1963 | |||||
05-24-1963 | |||||
05-28-1963 | |||||
06-08-1963 | |||||
06-16-1963 | |||||
06-22-1963 | |||||
06-28-1963 | |||||
07-04-1963 | |||||
07-11-1963 | |||||
07-15-1963 | |||||
07-19-1963 | |||||
07-23-1963 | |||||
07-27-1963 | |||||
07-31-1963 | |||||
08-04-1963 | |||||
Cliff Curtis | Boston | 06-13-1910 | |||
06-18-1910 | |||||
06-22-1910 | |||||
06-27-1910 | |||||
06-30-1910 | |||||
07-15-1910 | |||||
07-19-1910 | |||||
07-24-1910 | |||||
07-28-1910 | |||||
08-01-1910 | |||||
08-06-1910 | |||||
08-10-1910 | |||||
08-13-1910 | |||||
08-19-1910 | |||||
08-24-1910 | |||||
09-05-1910 | |||||
09-10-1910 | |||||
09-20-1910 | |||||
Most Seasons Leading the League (Yearly Leaders) |
AL | Pedro Ramos | Washington | 4 | 1958 |
Washington | 1959 | ||||
Washington | 1960 | ||||
Minnesota | 1961 | ||||
Bobo Newsom | St. Louis | 1934 | |||
Washington | 1935 | ||||
Detroit | 1941 | ||||
Philadelphia | 1945 | ||||
NL | Phil Niekro | Atlanta | 4 | 1977 | |
Atlanta | 1978 | ||||
Atlanta | 1979 | ||||
Atlanta | 1980 | ||||
Games Lost Records | LG | Pitcher(s) | Team(s) | Data | |
MLB Games Lost Records | Research by Baseball Almanac |
Games lost by pitchers are often cited and easy to find. Baseball Almanac likes to take things one step further and is pleased to present a handful of consecutive games won records:
The American League pitchers with the fewest losses who still led their league in games lost are: Ted Gray, Alex Kellner, Bob Lemon, Billy Pierce, Duane Pillette, and Dizzy Trout. All these hurlers had fourteen losses and all led during the 1951 season.
The National League pitchers with the fewest losses who still led their league in games lost are: Don Carman, Orel Hershiser and Ken Hill. All these hurlers had fifteen losses and all led during the 1989 season. Three years later (in 1992) Tom Candiotti & Orel Hershiser (again) tied the record of fifteen originally set in 1989.