Major League Baseball complete games records — including career complete game records, most complete games by a rookie during a season, single season complete game records, and several other official complete game records set by Major League pitchers. Research by Baseball Almanac.
"I don't think (Warren) Spahn (National League Complete Game Career Leader) will ever get into the (National Baseball) hall of fame, he'll never stop pitching." - Musial, Stan. Hall of Fame Player. Total Baseball. Total Sports Publishing. Thorn, John. Author. 30 March 2001. Page 188.
Complete Games RecordsCareer Complete Games Records |
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Complete Game Record | LG | Pitcher(s) | Team(s) | Data | |
Most Complete Games In A Career | Top 1,000 |
AL | Walter Johnson | Washington | 531 | 531 |
NL | Pud Galvin | Buffalo | 381 | 558 | |
Pittsburgh | 167 | ||||
St. Louis | 10 | ||||
ML | Cy Young | Cleveland [NL] | 346 | 749 | |
St. Louis [NL] | 72 | ||||
Boston [AL] | 283 | ||||
Cleveland [AL] | 48 | ||||
Most Complete Games In A Career | LHP |
AL | Eddie Plank | Philadelphia | 362 | 387 |
St. Louis | 25 | ||||
NL | Warren Spahn | Boston | 142 | 382 | |
Milwaukee | 232 | ||||
New York | 5 | ||||
San Francisco | 3 | ||||
ML | Eddie Plank | Philadelphia [AL] | 362 | 410 | |
St. Louis [FL] | 23 | ||||
St. Louis [AL] | 25 | ||||
Most Complete Games In A Career | RHP |
AL | Walter Johnson | Washington | 531 | 531 |
NL | Pud Galvin | Buffalo | 381 | 558 | |
Pittsburgh | 167 | ||||
St. Louis | 10 | ||||
ML | Cy Young | Cleveland [NL] | 346 | 749 | |
St. Louis [NL] | 72 | ||||
Boston [AL] | 283 | ||||
Cleveland [AL] | 48 | ||||
Complete Game Record | LG | Pitcher(s) | Team(s) | Data | |
Complete Games RecordsSingle Season Complete Games Records |
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Complete Game Record | LG | Pitcher(s) | Team | Roster | Data | |
Fewest Complete Games League Leader | Full Season |
AL | Jose Berrios | Minnesota | 2 | 2018 |
Carlos Carrasco | Cleveland | 2018 | |||
Gerrit Cole | New York | 2021 | |||
Corey Kluber | Cleveland | 2018 | |||
Sean Manaea | Oakland | 2021 | |||
James Paxton | Seattle | 2018 | |||
NL | Sandy Alcantara | Miami | 2 | 2019 | |
Walker Buehler | Los Angeles | 2019 | |||
Zach Eflin | Philadelphia | 2019 | |||
Michael Foltynewicz | Atlanta | 2018 | |||
Carlos Martinez | St. Louis | 2017 | |||
Ivan Nova | Pittsburgh | 2017 | |||
Clayton Richard | San Diego | 2017 | |||
Max Scherzer | Washington | 2017 | |||
Max Scherzer | Washington | 2018 | |||
Noah Syndergaard | New York | 2018 | |||
Jameson Taillon | Pittsburgh | 2018 | |||
Most Complete Games In A Season | Top 500 |
AL | Jack Chesbro | New York | 48 | 1904 |
NL | Will White | Cincinnati | 75 | 1879 | |
Most Complete Games In A Season | By A Rookie |
AA | Matt Kilroy | Baltimore | 66 | 1886 |
AL | Roscoe Miller | Detroit | 35 | 1901 | |
NL | Jim Devlin | Louisville | 66 | 1876 | |
Most Games Pitched In A Season With No Complete Games |
AL | Mike Marshall | Minnesota | 90 | 1979 |
NL | Mike Marshall | Los Angeles | 106 | 1974 | |
Most Seasons Leading The League In Complete Games (Yearly Leaders) |
AL | Walter Johnson | Washington | 6 | 1910 |
Washington | 1911 | ||||
Washington | 1913 | ||||
Washington | 1914 | ||||
Washington | 1915 | ||||
Washington | 1916 | ||||
NL | Warren Spahn | Boston | 9 | 1949 | |
Boston | 1951 | ||||
Milwaukee | 1957 | ||||
Milwaukee | 1958 | ||||
Milwaukee | 1959 | ||||
Milwaukee | 1960 | ||||
Milwaukee | 1961 | ||||
Milwaukee | 1962 | ||||
Milwaukee | 1963 | ||||
Complete Game Record | LG | Pitcher(s) | Team(s) | Data | |
Complete Game Records | Research by Baseball Almanac |
The yearly leader for complete games in both the American League (1901-2024) and National League (1876-2024), are here on Baseball Almanac; as well as the top one-thousand all-time complete games pitched leaders and top five-hundred single season complete games pitched leaders!
Jack Taylor of the St. Louis Cardinals had a National League record (and overall Major League record) thirty-nine consecutive complete games in 1904 while Bill Dinneen of the Boston Americans had an American League record thirty-seven consecutive complete games — also in 1904.
Did you know that the longest / most innings pitched during one complete game by one pitcher is twenty-six? That record is held by two pitchers — Leon Cadore of Brooklyn & Joe Oeschger of Boston — who faced off against each other on May 1, 1920 both setting the record during a marathon 1-1 tie contest.