Strikeouts : 2008 American League Top 25

Finding the American or National League leader in virtually every hitting & pitching statistic is easy-to-do. Finding the top 25 players during any given season is far more challenging. Baseball Almanac has taken away that difficult problem and is pleased to present the data you requested:

"Although baseball decided to extend the regular season deeper into October to play 162 games (after the 09-11 disaster), why not just play 154? Baseball has dealt with shortened seasons before. (Bud) Selig spoke about the sanctity of playing 162 games, but baseball played 154 games until 1961. Baseball should have just let the games go and continued with the current schedule." - Joe Morgan on ESPN (September 19, 2001)
 

2008 Strikeouts Leaders

Top 25 in the American League

A.J. Burnett 231 Toronto Blue Jays 1
Ervin Santana 214 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 2
Roy Halladay 206 Toronto Blue Jays 3
Javier Vazquez 200 Chicago White Sox 4
Zack Greinke 183 Kansas City Royals 5
Gil Meche 183 Kansas City Royals  
Felix Hernandez 175 Seattle Mariners 7
Josh Beckett 172 Boston Red Sox 8
Cliff Lee 170 Cleveland Indians 9
Scott Kazmir 166 Tampa Bay Rays 10
Justin Verlander 163 Detroit Tigers 11
James Shields 160 Tampa Bay Rays 12
Andy Pettitte 158 New York Yankees 13
John Danks 155 Chicago White Sox 14
Daisuke Matsuzaka 154 Boston Red Sox 15
Jon Lester 152 Boston Red Sox 16
Jered Weaver 152 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim  
Mike Mussina 150 New York Yankees 18
Gavin Floyd 145 Chicago White Sox 19
Scott Baker 141 Minnesota Twins 20
Mark Buehrle 140 Chicago White Sox 21
John Lackey 130 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 22
Matt Garza 128 Tampa Bay Rays 23
Vicente Padilla 127 Texas Rangers 24
Armando Galarraga 126 Detroit Tigers 25



Future Hall of Famer Sammy Sosa is best known for wearing number twenty-one; however, when the young slugger played for the Chicago White Sox (1989-1991) he only wore number twenty-five.

Jose Cruz of the Houston Astros had his number twenty-five retired on October 3, 1992, and became the first Major League player with that particular retired number.

The first player from the Angels franchise (they were the California Angels at the time) to wear the number twenty-five was Bob Perry.