Debating the top 25 starting pitchers of all time can be fun, or it can get heated. There are no definitive criteria to determine who is the best, so people cherry-pick the stats and achievements that support their favorite players. To try to remove bias, a mathematical formula was created by Anubis Sports to utilize the data and remove the emotion.
In order to qualify for the list, a pitcher had to pitch 1500 or more innings (4,000 if they pitched before 1950), have an ERA under 3.50, and have a winning record with 150 or more wins. The pitchers were then ordered by who had the best WHERIP (Walks+Hits+Earned Runs per Inning Pitched), who had the most wins, and who averaged the most strikeouts per nine innings.
Once they were ordered, their rankings in all three categories would be added to give them an overall score. For example, a pitcher who ranked third in WHERIP, 30th in career wins, and 14th in strikeouts per nine would have a score of 47 (3+30+14), and so on. This list is not without controversy. The number one pitcher had a score of 46, and two pitchers tied for the 25th spot with a score of 100.
Players who did not score high enough to get into the top 25 were all-time greats Don Drysdale (101), Jim Palmer (103), and Warren Spahn (105). Without further ado, here are the top 25 pitchers of all time, mathematically speaking, of course, in reverse order from 25 to 1.
25b. Gerrit Cole (100)
- WHERIP: 1.4413 (14th)
- Wins: 160 (82nd)
- K/9: 10.3 (4th)
The modern pitcher is helped out by the influx of strikeouts compared to the players who pitched years before them. Other than Nolan Ryan, the strikeout didn’t really become popular until the mid 1980’s and it is a perfected art by now. Cole benefits from this, having started his career in 2013. He has a career ERA of 3.18 and a record of 161-87.
Cole won’t be the last modern pitcher on the list, but he is the first. He also won’t be the most controversial pitcher to make the list.
25a. Bert Blyleven (100)
- WHERIP: 1.5658 (50)
- Wins: 287 (25)
- K/9: 6.7 (25)
Blyleven is a model of consistency. He pitched 22 years in Major League Baseball, starting more than 30 games 16 times over that span. He only missed one season due to injury (1991), finishing third in Cy Young voting twice. He had a career ERA of 3.31 and led the league in WHIP one time (1.065 in 1977).
Blyleven only won 20 games one time (1973) and never hit 300 strikeouts (career best was 258 in 1973).
24. Sandy Koufax (95)
- WHERIP: 1.4127 (9)
- Wins: 165 (78)
- K/9: 9.3 (8)
This will be the most controversial player on the list by far. In most discussions about the greatest pitcher of all time, Sandy Koufax is guaranteed to be in the top five. That makes sense when considering he struck out more than nine batters per nine innings in the 1950’s and 60’s. The last five years of his career may be the best five-year span any pitcher has ever had.
All that said, judging an entire career, career numbers have to be accounted for. Koufax was cut down by injuries, robbing fans of what may have been the greatest career ever. To even get him on the list, concessions had to be made, lowering the wins requirement from 200 to 150. Any further rigging to get him higher on the list would have compromised the entire thing.
22b. Steve Carlton (91)
- WHERIP: 1.6048 (60)
- Wins: 329 (11)
- K/9: 7.1 (20)
Steve Carlton is another player who would feature higher up in a debate, but his Achilles ‘ heel was his WHERIP. Hitters he faced benefited from an OBP of .306 (.240 batting average). Despite letting guys get on base, his ERA was only 3.22. He led the league in strikeouts five times over 24 seasons and eclipsed 300 once (310 in 1972). He won four Cy Young awards.
22a. Nolan Ryan (91)
- WHERIP: 1.6337 (70)
- Wins: 324 (14)
- K/9: 9.5 (7)
Maybe the most polarizing figure in any GOAT pitcher debate is Nolan Ryan. On one hand, he holds the record for most strikeouts in a career (5,714), eclipsing 300 six times. He also has more no-hitters than any pitcher in MLB history (7), more one-hitters (12), and the most career two-hitters (18). Unfortunately, he also has more career walks than any pitcher (2,795), which led to his rough WHIP.
Ryan’s opponents hit just .204 against him, but they had a .307 OBP because they were more likely to get walked than to get a hit. He pitched 27 years in the bigs, and one thing that can’t be debated is how tough he was. In 1974, he pitched 13 innings against the Boston Red Sox, racking up a pitch count of 235. Ryan never won a Cy Young Award.
21. Curt Schilling (90)
- WHERIP: 1.5214 (30)
- Wins: 216 (50)
- K/9: 8.6 (10)
Here’s where people are really going to lose their minds. Schilling over Nolan Ryan and Steve Carlton? Schilling over Koufax? The former Phillies and Red Sox ace has rubbed more than a few people the wrong way over the years and made his feelings about sports writers exceptionally clear. He should be in the Hall of Fame, but he’s not, because he wasn’t a nice guy.
Schilling was an incredibly nice pitcher, though. He won 20 games three times over his 20-year career and was co-MVP of the 2001 World Series. He has three rings in total, despite not pitching in the 2007 series due to injury. He was a six-time All-Star with a career ERA of 3.46 and 3,116 strikeouts. He and Roger Clemens are the only HOF-eligible players with 3,000 strikeouts who aren’t enshrined in Cooperstown.
20. Chris Sale (89)
- WHERIP: 1.3708 (5)
- Wins: 158 (83)
- K/9: 11.1 (1)
Chris Sale gets the benefit of being a modern-day pitcher. Despite having fewer career wins than Koufax, his 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings is better than any player on the list. Unlike many of the old-timers on the list, Sale rarely pitches nine innings, though. In 336 career starts, he has 17 complete games. Ryan had 17 complete games in just 1979.
Sale is a 10-time All-Star and has won not only a Cy Young, but also the pitching triple crown (2024). He has a career ERA of 2.95, but shows no signs of slowing down, with a 2.06 ERA this season.
19. Cy Young (88)
- WHERIP: 1.4222 (12)
- Wins: 511 (1)
- K/9: 3.4 (76)
The man the award is named after. When people discuss baseball’s most unbreakable records, they inevitably mention Cal Ripken’s 2,632 consecutive games played or Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. Both of those are breakable, though. What isn’t? Any record held by Cy Young.
511 career wins, 749 complete games, 7,356 innings pitched, and 815 games started. Until robots replace humans, those records aren’t going anywhere. What keeps the legend so far down the list? His career 3.4 strikeouts per nine innings. He must have been a ground-ball pitcher.
18. Juan Marichal (86)
- WHERIP: 1.4221 (11)
- Wins: 243 (38)
- K/9: 5.9 (37)
Marichal may be one of the more underrated pitchers of all time. He was a 10-time All-Star, with six 20-win seasons in a 16-year career (4 in a row from 1963-1966). In 1968, he had 30 complete games. He never led the league in strikeouts, but he had an ERA under 3.00 nine times, including seven years in a row from 1963 to 1969. His career 2.89 ERA is lights out.
17. Grover Alexander (83)
- WHERIP: 1.4054 (8)
- Wins: 373 (3)
- K/9: 3.8 (72)
Another dead-ball pitcher, helped along by his incredibly low ERA (2.56) and WHIP (1.121). Like his contemporaries, he didn’t strike out many batters, but he won a good number of games (62% of his starts). He won the pitching triple crown three times and had eight 20-win seasons (three of those were 30-win seasons).
14c. Fergie Jenkins (81)
- WHERIP: 1.5131 (26)
- Wins: 284 (27)
- K/9: 6.4 (28)
Jenkins pitched from 1965 to 1983 and wasn’t especially dominant, just consistent. He did win a Cy Young in 1971 with the Cubs, going 24-13 with a 2.77 ERA. He was a three-time All-Star and won 20 games six years in a row from 1967 to 1972. He also had fewer than 10 wins six times. It may not seem fair to have him over guys like Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax, but numbers don’t lie, right?
14b. Tim Keefe (81)
- WHERIP: 1.4152 (10)
- Wins: 342 (10)
- K/9: 4.6 (61)
Tim Keefe’s entire career took place before the turn of the 20th century (1880-1893). He had two 40-win seasons and led the league in ERA three times, winning the pitching triple crown once. In 1883, he led the league in games started (68) and innings pitched (619). He had over 400 innings pitched seven times.
14a. Gaylord Perry (81)
- WHERIP: 1.5266 (31)
- Wins: 314 (17)
- K/9: 5.9 (37)
Perry is known for throwing the Vaseline ball, or spitball. In the movie Major League (1989), Eddie Harris mentions that a foreign substance on the ball can give an extra 2-3 inches of drop on a curveball. Perry certainly took advantage of that, and even made a joking commercial for ESPN where he denies the rumor and then shakes hands with anchors, leaving globs of oil in their palms.
Perry finished his career as a five-time All-Star and two-time Cy Young Award winner. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.
12b. Eddie Plank (79)
- WHERIP: 1.3081 (4)
- Wins: 326 (13)
- K/9: 4.5 (62)
Eddie Plank pitched from 1901 to 1917, winning 20 games or more eight times and winning three World Series titles. His 2.35 career ERA is tied for 21st-best all-time. He started 529 games and finished 410 of them. The only time his ERA went above 3.00 was his first two years in the bigs.
12a. Bob Gibson (79)
- WHERIP: 1.5113 (24)
- Wins: 251 (36)
- K/9: 7.2 (19)
Gibson is one of the rare pitchers to win a league MVP award (1968) when he went 22-9 with a 1.12 ERA, leading the Majors with 268 strikeouts. It’s argued as the best season in history, but that would, of course, be recency bias. Gibson was a two-time Cy Young winner, nine-time All-Star, and a nine-time Gold Glove winner. In his five-year stretch from 1965 to 1969, he started 164 games (completing 106 of them) and had an ERA of 2.29.
11. Justin Verlander (68)
- WHERIP: 1.5060 (22)
- Wins: 213 (31)
- K/9: 8.0 (15)
Verlander has had quite a career. He has three career no-hitters and 3,554 strikeouts over 21 seasons. He’s won three Cy Young Awards and a league MVP. Batters hit .228 against him with an OBP of .287. He’s been at the front of quite a few great rotations and won two World Series titles as a result. There may be some debate about whether he belongs this high on the list, but that is likely due to the fact that he’s 0-1 with a 12.27 ERA this year.
10. Don Sutton (65)
- WHERIP: 1.5042 (21)
- Wins: 324 (14)
- K/9: 6.1 (30)
Sutton began his career in Los Angeles as Koufax was ending his. He may not have picked up where Koufax left off, but he was significantly more durable, winning double-digit games in 23 seasons, and 20 games just once. He led the league in WHIP four times (before it was actually a stat people used) and finished his career with 3,574 strikeouts.
9. Max Scherzer (63)
- WHERIP: 1.4533 (16)
- Wins: 223 (44)
- K/9: 10.5 (3)
Scherzer is another modern pitcher who benefits from a high strikeout rate. He’s an eight-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young winner, and two-time World Series champion. His career 3.27 ERA and 3,535 strikeouts make him a shoo-in when he is eligible for the Hall of Fame, even though he’s only won nearly 46% of his starts.
8. Christy Mathewson (62)
- WHERIP: 1.2947 (1)
- Wins: 373 (3)
- K/9: 4.7 (58)
Mathewson seemed destined for the top spot, after posting the best WHERIP of any pitcher in history (thanks to his 2.13 ERA and 1.058 WHIP over 17 seasons. He also won the third most games ever, but he just couldn’t strike people out. At least, not at the same rate as some of the top guys. He finished his career with just 2,507 Ks, but completed 78.8% of all the games he started, and 13 20-win seasons (four 30-win seasons).
7. Pedro Martinez (59)
- WHERIP: 1.3796 (6)
- Wins: 219 (48)
- K/9: 10.0 (5)
Martinez is the most dominant pitcher man fans have actually witnessed. At 185 pounds soaking wet, he destroyed hitters who were completely juiced. The seven seasons from 1997 – 2003, Martinez went 118-36 with a 2.20 ERA and 1,761 strikeouts. This is completely on par with the last five years of Koufax’s career, but better.
Martinez burned hot and fast like most shooting stars, and while he was serviceable at the end of his career, he was otherworldly at his peak.
6. Randy Johnson (57)
- WHERIP: 1.5366 (34)
- Wins: 303 (21)
- K/9: 10.6 (2)
Randy Johnson started off as a tall and wild pitcher in Montreal, but by the time he got to Seattle, he was starting to become dominant. He led the league in strikeouts nine times and posted more than 300 strikeouts six times. Despite that wild start, his career 3.26 strikeouts per walk ranks ahead of Marichal, Clemens, and John Smoltz.
Johnson was a 10-time All-Star, and his infamous duel (if that’s what it’s called) against John Kruk in the 1993 midsummer classic is still hilarious. He won four ERA titles, a pitching triple crown, and five Cy Young Awards.
5. Greg Maddux (56)
- WHERIP: 1.4941 (18)
- Wins: 355 (8)
- K/9: 6.1 (30)
There may be no more accurate pitcher in league history than Maddux. At the peak of his powers, his fastball topped out at 93 or 94, but he could hit a dime in a catcher’s mitt with any of his pitches. He won four Cy Young awards and 18 Gold Gloves. Surprisingly, he was only an eight-time All-Star.
During a seven-year stretch from 1992 to 1998, Maddux went 127-53 with a 2.15 ERA. Opponents had just a .291 OBP against him in his career, and during that seven-year stretch, it dropped to .258 with a .297 slugging percentage.
4. Tom Seaver (54)
- WHERIP: 1.4388 (13)
- Wins: 311 (18)
- K/9: 6.8 (23)
Seaver and Nolan Ryan started on the Mets together at the end of the 1960’s. Seaver had a shorter career, ending in 1986, but a more efficient one. He had an ERA of just 2.26 and a WHIP of 1.121. He was a Rookie of the Year, a 12-time All-Star, three-time ERA champ, and three-time Cy Young Award winner.
Seaver won 20 games or more five times in his first nine seasons. He also led the league in strikeouts five times. He won a World Series with the 69 Mets, and ironically finished his career with the Boston Red Sox, losing to the New York Mets in the World Series.
3. Clayton Kershaw (52)
- WHERIP: 1.2991 (2)
- Wins: 223 (44)
- K/9: 9.6 (6)
What’s most amazing about Kershaw is that he had the second-best WHERIP in history, despite going up against guys who pitched bowling balls. He has a career ERA of 2.53 and a 4.28 strikeout-to-walk ratio (12th all-time). He is also a member of the 3,000-strikeout club, which should punch his ticket to Cooperstown once he’s eligible.
Kershaw won five ERA titles and three Cy Young Awards, but the knock on him was always his postseason record. He finished his career 13-13 in the playoffs with a 4.62 ERA. He still managed to win two World Series titles (2020 and 2025).
2. Walter Johnson (51)
- WHERIP: 1.3021 (3)
- Wins: 417 (2)
- K/9: 5.3 (46)
Nicknamed the train for his fastball velocity, Johnson had a record 110 career shutouts (20 ahead of second-place Grover Alexander). He won five ERA titles, three pitching triple crowns, and two league MVP awards. He won 20 or more games in 10 consecutive seasons from 1910 to 1919. He won 60% of his games and pitched a shutout every eight starts.
1. Roger Clemens (46)
- WHERIP: 1.5197 (27)
- Wins: 354 (9)
- K/9: 8.6 (10)
Yes, the best starting pitcher in the history of the game (mathematically) is not in the Hall of Fame. He won a record seven Cy Young Awards, and four of those were after he was traded from Boston because GM Dan Duquette said Clemens was washed up. He has the most strikeouts in a nine-inning game (20), tied with Kerry Wood and…Roger Clemens.
The argument against Clemens in the Hall of Fame is PED use, but considering he was pitching against hitters who were all using PEDs, he didn’t have an advantage over any of his opponents. Whether he should be number one on this list can be debated, but there should be no debate that he deserves a plaque in Cooperstown.
The Top 25 Starting Pitchers Of All Time
That’s the list, and it will not be without naysayers. It doesn’t use the criteria that people use to get their favorites in the top five, and it isn’t hypocritical, like people arguing for Koufax and his 165 wins but dismissing Scherzer and his 223. It just goes by the numbers, and numbers don’t have a horse in the race.
