Complete game

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In baseball, a complete game (denoted by CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game himself, without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A complete game can be either a win or a loss.

As demonstrated by the charts below, in the late 1800's, it was common for most good pitchers to pitch a complete game almost every start. As the 20th century went on, complete games became less and less common, to the point where a good pitcher typically achieves only 1 or 2 complete games a season today. To put in perspective, as recently as 15-20 years ago, 10-15 complete games a year by a star pitcher was not unheard of. This change has been brought about by strict pitch counts and new pitching philosophies in general. Most pitchers now try primarily to get strikeouts, which leads to more pitches being thrown and more stress on the pitching arm.

Given this, sabermetricians generally regard Cy Young's total of 749 complete games as the career baseball record most unlikely to ever be broken.

Contents

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Career Leaders

All pitchers above are right handed, except for Eddie Plank.

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Active Career Leaders

No active players are in the top 100, all time:

Johnson, Glavine, Wells, Mulholland, Rogers, and Moyer all lefties.

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Single-season Leaders

All pitchers right-handed except Matt Kilroy and Toad Ramsey.

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See also

  • Shutout (Complete game in which the opposing team scores no runs)
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