Some Major League Baseball (MLB) records are widely regarded as "unbreakable" because they were set by freak occurrence or under rules, techniques, or other circumstances that have since changed. Some records previously regarded as unbreakable have been broken and even re-broken.
Pitching
Most career wins – 511 Set by Cy Young, 1890–1911. Highlights include five 30-win seasons and fifteen 20-win seasons. The next closest player is Walter Johnson with 417, the only other player who reached 400.MLB: Who holds the record for most career wins? https://bolavip.com/en The most wins by a pitcher who played his entire career in the post-1920 live-ball era is Warren Spahn's 363.
Since 1978, only three pitchers (Ron Guidry in 1978, Steve Stone in 1980, and Bob Welch in 1990) have had one season with 25 wins. Between 2000 and 2009, the Major League leader finished each year with an average of 21. Only two pitchers expected to be active in the 2026 season have even 200 wins—Justin Verlander with 266 and Max Scherzer with 221. The next active player on the list, Gerrit Cole, ended the 2025 season with 153, and no active pitcher under age 30 has even 75 career wins.
Most wins in a season – 60 Set by Charles Radbourn, in 1884, with Jack Chesbro's 41 in 1904 historically regarded as the modern mark. In today's game of five-man rotations, pitchers do not start enough games to break the record. No pitcher started 34 games in 2024, and only three pitchers in the 21st century have started more than 35 games in a season (Tom Glavine in 2002 and Roy Halladay and Greg Maddux in 2003, each with 36 starts). The last pitcher to start at least 60 games was Bill Hutchison, who started 70 games in 1892. Although relief pitchers often appear in more than the requisite number of games, they rarely record ten wins in a season; the all-time record for wins by a relief pitcher is 18 by Roy Face in 1959. Relief pitcher usage reduces a starter's chance of a win, further limiting the ability to break the record. To put this record in further perspective, the last pitcher to win 30 games in a season was Denny McLain in 1968 and the last pitcher to win more than 25 games in a season was Bob Welch with 27 in 1990. The most wins in a season by any pitcher in the 21st century is 24, by Randy Johnson in 2002 and Justin Verlander in 2011. The reason that the record is considered unbreakable is because Radbourn was a part of a two-man starting pitcher roster, which was common at the time. Also, he had taken on the duties of the Grey's other pitcher, Charlie Sweeney, after he was expelled from the National League.
Most career complete games – 749 Set by Cy Young, 1890–1911. Highlights of this record include: nine 40-complete-game seasons, eighteen 30-complete-game seasons and completing 92 percent of his 815 total career starts, an all-time record. The next closest player is Pud Galvin, who has 103 fewer complete games at 646. Among pitchers whose entire careers were in the live-ball era, the most is 382 by Warren Spahn.
Between 2000 and 2009, the Major League leaders in complete games averaged eight per season, and only two pitchers in the 21st century have had 10 complete games in any season (CC Sabathia with 10 in 2008 and James Shields with 11 in 2011). In addition, only two pitchers other than Young have even started as many as 749 games—Nolan Ryan (773) and Don Sutton (756). Among pitchers expected to be active in 2026, the leader is Verlander with 26, followed by Chris Sale with 16.
The quest for any complete-game records, either over a career or over a single season, is further complicated by the drastic change in philosophy embraced by virtually all modern managers and pitching coaches, motivated in roughly equal parts by more advanced modern-day medical knowledge of the cumulative damage that pitching does to a hurler's arm, combined with teams' reluctance to see injuries to a pitcher in whom they have invested considerable financial capital in the form of a big contract. Another factor, arguably, is the greater reliance of managers and pitching coaches on sabermetrics—in this case, statistical data and analysis that generally show leaving a starter to face more batters leads to diminishing returns in terms of opposing batters allowed to reach base safely and score runs. While even a few decades ago, a starting pitcher was expected to go out and attempt to pitch a complete game, with the manager going to his bullpen only if the starter ran into trouble or was injured or visibly tiring, now a starter is expected to give his manager six or seven "quality innings," at which point he normally will be relieved by one or more middle-inning specialists to pitch the next several innings before the team's closer. There are exceptions—a manager will leave a starter in who is working on a no-hitter or, sometimes, a shutout, or will let a starter continue if he is pitching particularly strongly and has not run up a high pitch count. But managerial caution is now a more dominant mode, particularly if a pitcher is coming off a recent injury or has had Tommy John surgery or any other major procedure done on his pitching arm.
These changes in philosophy have reduced the number of complete games in today's game to an even greater extent than in the first decade of the 21st century. Since Shields completed 11 games in 2011, no pitcher has had more than 6 complete games in a season, with the two most recent to amass 6 being Chris Sale in 2016 and Sandy Alcántara in 2022. In 2018, all of Major League Baseball combined for 45 complete games and no pitcher having more than 3. In a 2019 story, Sam Miller of ESPN went so far as to say, "In your lifetime, you might very well see the last complete game." In 2016, managerial caution reached a new milestone when Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill was pulled while working on a potential perfect game.
Most complete games in a season – 75 All-time record of 75 set by Will White in 1879; modern-era record of 48 set by Jack Chesbro in 1904. Sports Illustrated has said about this record, "Even if the bar is lowered to begin with the live-ball era (which began in 1920), the mark would still be untouchable." The most complete games recorded in a live-ball season is 33, achieved three times in all—twice at the dawn of that era by Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1920 and Burleigh Grimes in 1923, and also by Dizzy Trout in 1944, a season in which the player pool was severely depleted by military call-ups during World War II. Modern starters can expect to start about 34 games in a season while fully healthy. The current active leader in complete games over an entire career is Justin Verlander with 26.
Most career shutouts – 110
Set by Walter Johnson, 1907–1927. Highlights include: 11 seasons with at least six-shutouts, and leading the league in shutouts seven times. The next closest player is Grover Cleveland Alexander, who has 90. As is the case for career wins and complete games, Warren Spahn, who retired in 1965, holds the record among pitchers whose entire careers were in the live-ball era, with 63.
For a player to tie Johnson's record, he would have to pitch five shutouts every season for 22 years. Between 2010 and 2019, the Major League leader in shutouts finished each year with an average of three, and no pitcher has recorded more than two shutouts in a season since 2017. Also, adding the MLB-leading shutout totals for each season from 1992 through 2019 results in a total of 106, still short of Johnson's record. The closest active player is Justin Verlander with 9.
Most shutouts in a season – 16 Set first by George Bradley in 1876 and equaled by Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1916; live-ball era record of 13 set by Bob Gibson in 1968.
Sam Miller of ESPN had this to say about a rhetorical suggestion that the live-ball record of 13 could be broken: "This is the stupidest suggestion yet. Thirteen shutouts clearly belongs in the anachronism pile." He pointed out that neither the National nor American League had 13 combined shutouts in the 2018 season, and no pitcher had more than one in that season.
Most consecutive no-hitters – 2 Set by Johnny Vander Meer on June 11 and 15, 1938. Despite holding this record, he finished his career with a 119–121 win–loss record. The prospect of a pitcher breaking this record by hurling three no-hitters in a row is so unimaginable that LIFE argued "it's easier to imagine someone hitting in 57 straight games or bashing 74 home runs in a season or ending the season with a 1.11 ERA." Ewell Blackwell came the closest to matching Vander Meer after following up a no-hitter with eight no-hit innings in 1947. In 1988, Dave Stieb of the Toronto Blue Jays had consecutive no-hitters going with two outs and two strikes in the ninth; both were broken up by singles. Between 2010 and 2019, 35 no-hitters were pitched (not including five combined no-hitters involving multiple pitchers), and the closest anyone came in the 21st century is Max Scherzer, who in 2015 threw a one-hitter and no-hitter in consecutive starts, respectively losing out on perfect games in the seventh inning and on the 27th batter.
Most career no-hitters – 7 Set by Nolan Ryan, 1966–1993. Sandy Koufax is second with four. Larry Corcoran, Cy Young, Bob Feller, and Justin Verlander have all thrown three. Only Verlander is active.
In all, 26 pitchers have thrown two, including active player Max Scherzer. An additional 30 active pitchers have played a part in one, including 20 who have thrown an individual no-hitter. Between 2000 and 2009, 20 no-hitters in all were thrown—19 of them solo no-hitters and one a combined no-hitter (in which more than one pitcher contributed). The following decade (2010–2019) saw the number of no-hitters double from the 2000s, with 40 (36 solo, 4 combined).
Most career strikeouts – 5,714 Set by Nolan Ryan, 1966–1993. Highlights include: six 300-strikeout seasons, fifteen 200-strikeout seasons, and leading the league in strikeouts 11 times. To accomplish this record, Ryan played the most seasons (27) in MLB history, as well as being both second in career innings pitched in the live-ball era, and fourth among pitchers who have completed their careers in strikeouts per nine innings.
The next closest player is Randy Johnson, who has 839 fewer strikeouts at 4,875. Johnson also had four consecutive 300-strikeout seasons at the turn of the 21st century (1999–2002); the only pitchers with a 300-strikeout season after 2002 are Clayton Kershaw, who had 301 in 2015; Chris Sale, with 308 in 2017; Max Scherzer, with 300 in 2018; and Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander, respectively with 326 and 300 in 2019. For a player to approach this record, he would have to average 225 strikeouts over 25 seasons just to get to 5,625. Averaging 250 strikeouts over 23 seasons would enable him to surpass the record with 5,750. Between 2010 and 2019 the Major League leader in strikeouts finished each year with an average of 279, and even that average is skewed with the aforementioned large strikeout seasons late in the decade. No pitcher exceeded 280 strikeouts between 2005 and 2014. Since then, only eight 280-strikeout seasons have been recorded—the five aforementioned 300-strikeout performances, plus Scherzer's 284 in 2016, Verlander's 290 in 2018, and Spencer Strider's 281 in 2023. The closest active player is Verlander with 3,553, who passed Greg Maddux on May 25, 2024 to become 10th in all-time strikeouts. Behind Verlander is Scherzer with 3,503.
Most career bases on balls – 2,795 Set by Nolan Ryan, 1966–1993. Ryan has greater than 50 percent more walks than the next highest (Steve Carlton with 1,833). The active pitcher with the most walks, Justin Verlander, finished the 2025 season with 1,004.
Most innings pitched in a season – 680