Strikeout Records by Pitchers including Career Strikeouts, Single Season Strikeouts and Strikeouts in a Game Records

Strikeout Records

Baseball Almanac is pleased to present a record book full of baseball milestones for strikeouts - including career marks, single season plateaus and game related records.

"It gave me no chance. He just blew it (strikeout number five-thousand) by me. But its an honor. I'll have another paragraph in all the baseball books. I'm already in the books three or four times." - Rickey Henderson

Strikeouts Career Records
Record	Lg	Name(s)	Team(s)	Data
Most In A Career (Top 100)	AL	Roger Clemens	Boston	2,590	4,167
			Toronto	563
			New York	1,014
	NL	Steve Carlton	St. Louis	951	4,000
			Philadelphia	3,031
			San Francisco	18
	ML	Nolan Ryan	California	2,416	5,714
			Texas	939
			New York	493
			Houston	1,866
Most In A Career By A Lefthander	AL	Mickey Lolich	Detroit	2,679	2,679
	NL	Steve Carlton	St. Louis	951	4,000
			Philadelphia	3,031
			San Francisco	18
	ML	Randy Johnson	Montreal	51	4,616
			Seattle	2,162
			Houston	116
			Arizona	1,904
			New York [AL]	383
Most In A Career By A Righthander	AL	Roger Clemens	Boston	2,590	4,167
			Toronto	563
			New York	1,014
	NL	Tom Seaver	New York	2,541	3,272
	NL	Tom Seaver	Cincinnati	731	3,272
	ML	Nolan Ryan	California	2,416	5,714
			Texas	939
			New York	493
			Houston	1,866
Most Games In A Career With 10+ Strikeouts	AL	Nolan Ryan	California		148
	AL	Nolan Ryan	Texas		148
	NL	Sandy Koufax	Brooklyn		97
	NL	Sandy Koufax	Los Angeles		97
	ML	Nolan Ryan	California	148	215
			Texas	148
			New York	67
			Houston	67
Strikeouts Game Records
Record	Lg	Name(s)	Team(s)	Data
Most In A 9 Inning Game	AL	Roger Clemens	Boston	20	04-29-1986
	AL	Roger Clemens	Boston	20	09-18-1996
	NL	Kerry Wood	Chicago	20	05-06-1998
Most By A Lefthander	AL	Randy Johnson	Seattle	19	06-24-1997
	AL	Randy Johnson	Seattle	19	08-08-1997
	NL	Steve Carlton	St. Louis	19	09-15-1969
Most By A Relief Pitcher	AL	Walter Johnson	Washington	15	07-25-1913
Most By A Relief Pitcher	NL	Randy Johnson	Arizona	16	07-18-2001
Most By A Right Hander	AL	Roger Clemens	Boston	20	04-29-1986
	AL	Roger Clemens	Boston	20	09-18-1996
	NL	Kerry Wood	Chicago	20	05-06-1998
Most By A Rookie 1^st Game Ever	AL	Elmer Myers	Philadelphia	12	10-06-1915
		Elmer Myers	Philadelphia		Game 2
		Steve Woodard	Milwaukee		07-28-1997
	NL	J.R. Richard	Houston	15	09-05-1971
	NL	Karl Spooner	Brooklyn	15	09-22-1954
Most Consecutively	AL	Roger Clemens	Boston	8	04-29-1986
		Ron Davis	New York		05-04-1981
		Nolan Ryan	California		07-09-1972
		Nolan Ryan	California		07-15-1973
		Blake Stein	Kansas City		06-17-2001
	NL	Tom Seaver	New York	10	04-22-1970
Most Consecutively From 1^st Batter	AL	Joe Cowley	Chicago	7	05-28-1986
Most Consecutively From 1^st Batter	NL	Mickey Welch	New York	9	08-28-1884
Most In An Extra Inning Game	AL	Tom Cheney (Pitched 16 Innings)	Washington	21	09-12-1962
	AL	Tom Cheney (Pitched 16 Innings)	Washington	21	16 Innings
	NL	Randy Johnson (Pitched 9 Innings)	Arizona	20	05-08-2001
	NL	Randy Johnson (Pitched 9 Innings)	Arizona	20	11 Innings
Strikeouts Single Season Records
Record	Lg	Name(s)	Team(s)	Data
Most In A Season (Top 100)	AA	Matt Kilroy	Baltimore	513	1886
	AL	Nolan Ryan	California	383	1973
	NL	Old Hoss Radbourn	Providence	441	1884
Most In A Season By A Lefthander	AL	Rube Waddell	Philadelphia	349	1904
Most In A Season By A Lefthander	NL	Sandy Koufax	Los Angeles	382	1965
Most In A Season By A Relief Pitcher	AL	Dick Radatz	Boston	181	1964
Most In A Season By A Relief Pitcher	NL	Brad Lidge	Houston	157	2004
Most In A Season By A Righthander	AL	Nolan Ryan	California	383	1973
Most In A Season By A Righthander	NL	Old Hoss Radbourn	Providence	441	1884
Most In A Season By A Rookie	AL	Herb Score	Cleveland	245	1955
Most In A Season By A Rookie	NL	Dwight Gooden	New York	276	1984
Most Games In A Season With 10+ Strikeouts	AL	Nolan Ryan	California	23	1973
	NL	Randy Johnson	Arizona	23	1999
		Randy Johnson	Arizona		2000
		Randy Johnson	Arizona		2001
Most Seasons With 100+ Strikeouts	AL	Roger Clemens	Boston	12	19
			Toronto	2
			New York	5
	NL	Greg Maddux	Chicago	8	21
			Atlanta	11
			Chicago/LA	1
			Los Angeles	1
	ML	Nolan Ryan	California	8	24
			Texas	4
			New York	3
			Houston	9
Most Seasons With 200+ Strikeouts	AL	Roger Clemens	Boston	8	11
			Toronto	2
			New York	1
	NL	Tom Seaver	New York	9	10
	NL	Tom Seaver	Cincinnati	1	10
	ML	Nolan Ryan	California	7	15
			Texas	3
			Houston	5
Most Seasons With 300+ Strikeouts	AL	Nolan Ryan	California	5	6
	AL	Nolan Ryan	Texas	1	6
	NL	Randy Johnson	Arizona	4
	ML	Nolan Ryan	California	5	6
		Nolan Ryan	Texas	1
		Randy Johnson	Seattle	1
		Randy Johnson	Arizona	5
Record	Lg	Name(s)	Team(s)	Data
Strikeouts : Career, Single Season & Game Related Records

Only a handful of pitchers have thrown exactly nine pitches, recorded exactly nine strikes, and retired the side in an inning of play; a true pitching feat (click here to see the entire list).

The strikeout records for Major League baseball teams are:

Most Strikeouts in a Season by a Team
AL	2001 New York Yankees	1,266
NL	2003 Chicago Cubs	1,404
Fewest Strikeouts in a Season by a Team
AL	1930 Boston Red Sox	356
NL	1921 New York Giants	357

Did you know that you could strike out four batters in one inning? It has been done and every instance is recorded on Baseball Almanac.

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