page_title: List of Major League Baseball annual shutout leaders
section_title: American League
hierarchical_section_title: List of Major League Baseball annual shutout leaders / American League
caption_attribution_description: Jeremy Sowers
context_page_description: The following is a list of annual leaders in shutouts in Major League Baseball. A shutout occurs when a single pitcher throws a complete game and does not allow the opposing team to score a single run.
  Walter Johnson holds the career shutout record with 110. The most shutouts pitched in one season was 16, which was a feat accomplished by both Pete Alexander and George Bradley. In the dead-ball era and throughout much of the first three-quarters of the twentieth century, starting pitchers were generally expected to perform complete games, and starting pitchers would throw dozens of complete games a year — thereby increasing a pitcher's chances of achieving a shutout. These shutout records are among the most secure records in baseball, as pitchers today rarely earn more than one or two shutouts per season with the heavy emphasis on pitch counts and relief pitching. Pitchers today will often pitch only a few, if any, complete games a season. The 2018 season marked a new low for complete-game shutouts; no pitcher threw for more than one shutout during the season, with eleven American League and seven National League pitchers finishing with only one shutout that season.
caption: Jeremy Sowers for the Cleveland Indians in 2006 became the second American League pitcher (after Hod Lisenbee in 1927) to lead the league in shutouts in their rookies season.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS-1D Mark III", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "picnik.com", "Image DateTime": "2009:08:29 19:16:25", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "210", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[39, 17, 33/25]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[76, 37, 588/25]", "Image GPSInfo": "7110", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1250", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:08:29 19:16:25", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:08:29 19:16:25", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "32920/3173", "EXIF ApertureValue": "24361/8200", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "1/3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "300", "EXIF SubSecTime": "10", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "10", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3888", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2592", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "702439/200", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1200913/341", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "1", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}