The greatest pitcher of all time is Cy Young — a fact so settled that baseball named its annual best-pitcher award after him. Young won 511 games between 1890 and 1911, completed 749 of his starts, and threw 7,356 career innings. All three are records that will never be broken. Behind Young, the all-time pitching pantheon includes Walter Johnson (417 wins, 110 shutouts), Roger Clemens (7 Cy Young Awards, the most ever), Greg Maddux (4 straight Cy Youngs from 1992-95), Randy Johnson (4,875 strikeouts and 5 Cy Youngs), Pedro Martinez (the most dominant peak in baseball history), and Sandy Koufax (165 career wins but unmatched dominance from 1961-66). Here are the 20 greatest pitchers in MLB history, ranked by combined career value, peak performance, and Hall of Fame credentials.
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The G.O.A.T. debate: Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Roger Clemens
Cy Young is the consensus statistical greatest pitcher of all time. His 511 career wins are 94 more than #2 Walter Johnson, and his 749 complete games are 196 more than #2 Pud Galvin (553). To put Young’s complete games in perspective: all 30 MLB teams combined recorded just 36 complete games in the 2022 season. Young completed 36-plus games by himself in 11 different seasons. His 7,356 career innings pitched are 922 more than #2 Pud Galvin and roughly double the workload of Justin Verlander’s 21-year career. The Cy Young Award has been given annually since 1956 to the best pitcher in each league, ensuring Young’s name remains in baseball vocabulary every season.
Walter Johnson is the consensus second-greatest pitcher by every comprehensive measure. His 417 wins are second all-time. His 110 career shutouts are 20 more than #2 Grover Cleveland Alexander (90) and will never be broken. His 2.17 career ERA across 5,914 innings remains one of the lowest in modern baseball history. The Washington Senators ace nicknamed “The Big Train” was the dominant power pitcher of the deadball era and the first true strikeout artist in baseball history. Roger Clemens won seven Cy Young Awards — more than any pitcher in history — across his career from 1984 to 2007. Clemens posted 354 wins, two World Series titles, an AL MVP (1986), and a 3.12 career ERA. The PED cloud that has kept him out of Cooperstown despite his statistical credentials means his cultural standing is contested, but the statistical case for Clemens is essentially complete: he was the best pitcher in baseball for parts of three different decades.
Sandy Koufax and the peak vs. longevity debate
Sandy Koufax’s career win total (165) is lower than every other pitcher in this article’s top 20. But his peak from 1961-1966 is arguably the most dominant six-year stretch in pitching history. Koufax won three Cy Young Awards (1963, 1965, 1966) when the award was given to only one pitcher across both leagues — meaning he was unanimously the best pitcher in baseball three times. He threw four no-hitters, including a perfect game on September 9, 1965. He posted a 1.73 ERA over his final season (1966) before retiring at age 30 due to chronic arthritis in his pitching elbow. Koufax’s argument for “greatest peak ever” is statistically supported: his ERA+ of 167 from 1962-1966 is the highest five-season stretch in MLB history.
Pedro Martinez’s 1999-2000 seasons represent the most dominant back-to-back years any pitcher has ever produced. In 1999, Pedro posted a 2.07 ERA in a season where the league average ERA was 5.02 — meaning his ERA was less than half the league average. In 2000, he posted a 1.74 ERA and a 0.737 WHIP (still the lowest single-season WHIP in MLB history). Martinez’s career win total (219) is modest compared to other all-time greats because he pitched only 18 seasons and was used carefully by the Red Sox to preserve his arm. Both Koufax and Pedro represent the philosophical question at the heart of the greatest pitcher debate: do you value peak excellence (Koufax, Pedro) or sustained greatness (Maddux, Clemens, Johnson)?
The modern era and Clayton Kershaw’s place in history
The top 20 includes several modern-era pitchers who are still establishing their legacies. Clayton Kershaw won three Cy Young Awards (2011, 2013, 2014) and the 2014 NL MVP. His career ERA of 2.49 is the lowest of any pitcher since Sandy Koufax. Justin Verlander won three Cy Young Awards (2011, 2019, 2022) and the 2011 AL MVP. He’s posted 262 career wins through 2025 — within striking distance of 300 if his career continues. Max Scherzer won three Cy Young Awards (2013, 2016, 2017), making him the latest pitcher to win three in his career. Verlander and Scherzer are the only active pitchers with realistic Hall of Fame credentials who started their careers before 2010. Among the post-2010 generation, Kershaw is the clear favorite for the next first-ballot Hall of Fame pitcher, with no obvious challenger behind him yet.
Several modern pitchers worth honorable mention include Mariano Rivera — the greatest reliever in baseball history with 652 career saves and a unanimous Hall of Fame induction in 2019 — though most “greatest pitcher” rankings focus on starters because of the workload disparity. Roy Halladay won two Cy Young Awards, threw a perfect game and a playoff no-hitter, and posted 203 career wins before retiring at 36. Tom Glavine won two Cy Young Awards and 305 career games. John Smoltz is the only pitcher in MLB history with 200 career wins and 150 career saves. Mike Mussina won 270 career games and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2019.
For continuously updated pitching statistics, complete career records, and historical context for every player ever to throw a pitch in MLB, Baseball-Reference’s career wins leaderboard is the authoritative source — they maintain comprehensive records for every pitcher with full WAR, ERA+, and FIP context. For year-by-year Cy Young Award analysis and historical pitcher rankings with advanced statistics, FanGraphs publishes the most rigorous modern pitcher evaluation tools.
The honest summary on greatest pitchers of all time: the top three (Young, Johnson, Clemens) are essentially uncontested at the very top of statistical rankings. After that, the order depends on how you weigh peak excellence vs. career longevity, dead-ball era stats vs. modern stats, and whether you penalize Clemens for PED allegations. The 20-pitcher list above represents the consensus across Bill James’s historical rankings, Baseball-Reference WAR, FanGraphs WAR, Hall of Fame voting percentages, and Cy Young Award totals. What’s not in doubt: pitching is the most position-specialized role in baseball, and the all-time greats at the position have produced statistics so far above the league average that some of their records — Young’s wins, Johnson’s shutouts, Nolan Ryan’s 5,714 strikeouts — will never be broken.
— Drew, Legion Report