300K’s in a season has gone the way of a 300-win career
Chris Sale is the last one to do it in 2017
HOFer Tom Seaver never did it. Neither did HOFer Bert Blyleven. Would-be HOFer Roger Clemens didn’t either. All struck out more than 3,000 hitters as Clemens struck out an amazing 4,672 (third all-time), Blyleven checks in just above Seaver in fifth place with 3,701 career strikeouts, and Seaver whiffed 3,640. Yet neither Seaver, Clemens, nor Blyleven ever struck out 300 batters in one season.
There are only seven MLB pitchers who struck out 300 or more batters in one season more than once. The last pitcher to have a single 300-strikeout season was Chris Sale (308 in 2017) when he was a member of the Red Sox.
Seven players who fanned more than 300 in one season twice or more
6 - Randy Johnson
6 - Nolan Ryan
3 - Sandy Koufax
3 - Curt Schilling
2 - Pedro Martinez
2 - Sam McDowell
2 - J.R. Richard
Randy Johnson and Nolan Ryan look even better through the lens of history. Koufax will never be underappreciated nor will Pedro Martinez. Curt Schilling was a great pitcher as well as someone who seeks out controversy which has kept him from being inducted into Cooperstown. J.R. Richard has been gone long enough that baseball fans who did not watch him might not know that his name was James Rodney Richard. All seven of these fastball specialists were very nasty for hitters to face. Five are HOFers, and Schilling is a would-be HOFer while ‘Sudden’ Sam McDowell (I always loved his nickname), and Richard fell short of induction.
Since 1961 the pitchers with one season of 300+ K’s are:
Vida Blue
Steve Carlton
Gerrit Cole
Clayton Kershaw
Mickey Lolich
Max Scherzer
Mike Scott
Justin Verlander
Chris Sale
Only one HOFer in this group (Carlton), but Kershaw, Scherzer and Verlander are locks and so is Chris Sale if you ask me. Vida Blue was close to being a HOFer, Mike Scott was not, and Gerrit Cole is a maybe. The late Mickey Lolich had 2,832 strikeouts and had he whiffed 168 more, I believe he’d have been enshrined. Lolich got better AFTER the mound was lowered from 15 to 10 inches in 1969. I don’t know how many pitchers got better after the mound was lowered but it can’t be many.
24 pitchers have won 300 games
13 of the 24 won their 300th game before 1961 meaning 11 pitchers have won 300 games since that time. They are listed below in order of games won.
The 300-game winners before 1961
HOFer Warren Spahn won his 300th in 1961 on the way to 363 career victories – the most for any left-handed pitcher.
Gaylord Perry 1982
Steve Carlton 1983
Tom Seaver 1985
Phil Niekro 1985
Don Sutton 1986
Nolan Ryan 1990
Roger Clemens 2003
Greg Maddux 2004
Tom Glavine 2007
Randy Johnson 2009
All but Clemens are HOFers to nobody’s surprise. Justin Verlander is closest among active pitchers but at age 43 currently his chances to win 300 dwindle with each passing day but his HOF credentials are already sealed.
Which might happen first? A 300-strikeout season for a pitcher seems more of a possibility since Chris Sale did it as recently as 2017 whereas the last 300-game winner, Randy Johnson exceeded 300K’s (303) in 2009.
Garrett Crochet led MLB with 255 strikeouts in 2025 with Tarik Skubal not far behind at 241. Even with their terrific K/9 rates, Crochet pitched 205 innings and Skubal 195.1. Neither has pitched even 200 innings in any other season. For a pitcher to strikeout 300 batters the pitcher would need to pitch 240 innings striking out 12 batters per nine innings. That’s not feasible. It’s also probably not a coincidence that both Crochet and Skubal are out with injuries in this 2026 season.
Crochet whiffed 11.2 per nine innings in 2025, Skubal fanned 11.1/9 in 2024. Last season now Blue Jays pitcher Dylan Cease, fanned an MLB-best 11.5/9 innings. To fan 300 at a rate of 11/K per nine for an entire season requires a pitcher to throw 270 innings. That just is not going to happen.
300 strikeouts in a season looks as if it will go the way of 300 game winners. I think baseball has lost a little something in the transition.
About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and Substack.com.
You have to pitch complete games to get 300 strikeouts.
I think Baseball has lost a lot. I mean it's still nine innings, six outs an inning, once a player is taken out of a game he can't reenter the game, etc. The parade of pitchers, the reliance on anylitics, every pitcher throwing 95mph and reliance on home runs has changed the game too much. Until this new era baseball always had a mix of dead ball era, 1950's heavy hitter era, 1960's and 1970's pitchers era within the decades. Now it's just homers and flame throwers. Boring.