A couple of weeks ago, I listened to a podcast show and in the show, a guest indicated that a pitcher used to toss 10 complete games in a single season. Well, in baseball, complete games have been very rare for a while.
After listening to the podcast show, I was just wondering which pitchers had thrown more complete games. To understand a little bit more, I went to check on the great Fangraphs website.
Hall of Famer Roy Halladay certainly had a great career. He made his MLB debut in 1998 and retired after the 2013 season. In total, he played 16 years in the majors and tossed 67 complete games. From 2000 to 2013, he threw 65 complete games, moreover, among those 65 complete games, there were 19 shutouts. Most importantly, he tossed a perfect game in 2010. In Halladay’s career, there were 4 times that he finished a season with 9 complete games.
Livan Hernandez made his MLB debut in 1996 and the next year, he was named the NLCS MVP and World Series MVP. In total, Livan Hernandez played 17 seasons in the big leagues and made 474 starts. From 2000 to 2012, he made 394 starts and tossed 39 complete games. In particular, he threw 9 complete games in 1998 and in 2004.
In addition, CC Sabathia retired after the 2019 season. He made his debut in 2001 with the Cleveland Indians. In his 19 years in the majors, Sabathia made 560 starts and threw 38 complete games. In particular, he made 35 starts in 2008 and he tossed 10 complete games. Among those 10 complete games, 5 were shutouts.
In the meantime, lots of people are talking about whether Mark Buehrle should be a Hall Famer. Well, that’s an interesting discussion. But, let’s take a look at his career numbers. Buehrle made his MLB debut in 2000 and his last MLB appearance was in 2015. In his 16 years in the majors, Buehrle made 493 starts and he tossed 33 complete games. In particular, he tossed a no-hitter in 2007 and in 2009, Buehrle threw a perfect game.
Finally, Hall of Famer Randy Johnson had a spectacular career. He spent 22 years in the majors and threw 100 complete games. His last MLB appearance was in 2009. From 2000 to 2009, he tossed 32 complete games and the most impressive one was that he pitched a perfect game in 2004. Additionally, Bartolo Colon’s last game in the MLB was in 2018, back then, he was 45 years old. He tossed 38 complete games in his career and from 2000 to 2018, he threw 30 complete games.
When we look at the leaderboard of complete games from 2000 to 2022, there’s no doubt that Roy Halladay is not only a Hall of Famer but also a legend in his generation. In the short-term, it will be extremely difficult to see a pitcher toss so many complete games as Halladay did. Furthermore, Randy Johnson has 100 complete games in his career and we might not see another pitcher to reach this milestone. Now, Adam Wainwright is the active leader in complete games. He has tossed 28 complete games. Perhaps, we might not even see a pitcher who can toss 30 complete games in his career.
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