page_title: Shutouts in baseball
section_title: League leaders
hierarchical_section_title: Shutouts in baseball / League leaders
caption_attribution_description: English: Publicity still photograph of Sandy Koufax
context_page_description: In Major League Baseball, a shutout refers to the act by which a single pitcher pitches a complete game and does not allow the opposing team to score a run. If two or more pitchers combine to complete this act, no pitcher is awarded a shutout, although the team itself can be said to have "shut out" the opposing team.
  The ultimate single achievement among pitchers is a perfect game, which has been accomplished 23 times in over 135 years, most recently by Félix Hernández of the Seattle Mariners on August 15, 2012. By definition, a perfect game is counted as a shutout. A no-hitter completed by one pitcher is also a shutout unless the opposing team manages to score through a series of errors, base on balls, catcher's interferences, dropped third strikes, or hit batsmen. The all-time career leader in shutouts is Walter Johnson, who pitched for the Washington Senators from 1907–1927. He accumulated 110 shutouts, which is 20 more than the second place leader, Pete Alexander. The most shutouts recorded in one season was 16, which was a feat accomplished by both Pete Alexander and George Bradley.
context_section_description: The pitcher who has the most shutouts at the end of the season is recognized as the league leader in that statistic. The National League and American League both have their own league leaders. A pitcher that leads the league in shutouts is often regarded as one of the best pitchers in the league. Such an accomplishment often makes that pitcher a contender for the Cy Young Award or even rarer as the league's Most Valuable Player, because a high number of shutouts may yield a high number of wins and a low earned run average.
  Since the establishment of the MVP Award in 1933, each league elects their own MVP, in which 11 American League pitchers and nine National League pitchers have captured their respective league's highest individual award. The following American League pitchers have led the league in shutouts and captured the MVP Award: Lefty Grove (1931), Spud Chandler (1943), Hal Newhouser (1945), and Vida Blue (1971). The following National League pitchers have also led the league in shutouts and captured the MVP award: Dizzy Dean (1934), Mort Cooper (1942), Sandy Koufax (1963), Carl Hubbell (1933), and Bob Gibson (1968). Established in 1956, the Cy Young Award was only awarded to one pitcher in Major League Baseball; separate awards were given to the American and National League starting in 1967. Since the award was established, there have been 25 times (out of a total of 106 awards given since 1956) where the award was given to a pitcher who also led the league in shutouts. Since the establishment of the Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, three pitchers have led the league in shutouts in their rookie year and also captured the Rookie of the Year Award: Don Newcombe (1949), Fernando Valenzuela (1981), and Hideo Nomo (1995). Only 16 pitchers in the history of the American and National League have led the league in shutouts in their rookie season; only two of these came from the American League.
  Walter Johnson, Pete Alexander, and Cy Young each hold the record for having led the league in shutouts on seven occasions. They are ranked first, second, and fourth respectively on the list of career shutouts.  More recently, Roger Clemens led the league six times. Pete Alexander and George Bradley hold the single season shutout record with 16 — a record that is unlikely to ever be broken. 27 pitchers on 29 occasions have accumulated 10 or more shutouts in a single season, while Ed Walsh and Pete Alexander are the only pitchers to have achieved 10 or more on two separate occasions. Of those 29 occasions, only three of these occasions were not high enough to lead the league. In the National League in 1884, Jim McCormick and Charles Radbourn had 10 and 11 shutouts respectively, while Pud Galvin had 12. Also, in the American Association in 1886, Dave Foutz had 11 shutouts but came second to the 12 by Ed Morris.
  With the decline in shutouts, since 1999, only six pitchers—A. J. Burnett, Dontrelle Willis, CC Sabathia, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Félix Hernández—have achieved five or more shutouts in a single season, although Sabathia's five shutouts are a combined total from having played in both leagues in one season. CC Sabathia is the only player in history to have led both leagues in shutouts in the same year when he did so in 2008. He had two shutouts for the Cleveland Indians of the American League when he was traded in the middle of the season to the Milwaukee Brewers of the National League. He accumulated three shutouts with the Brewers to lead the league. His two shutouts in the American League would also lead the league at the end of the year, even though he was in a different league at the time. Recently, accumulating only 2–3 shutouts may qualify a pitcher to lead or tie the league lead in shutouts.
  For career shutout leaders, see List of Major League Baseball career shutout leaders.
caption: Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax led the National League with 11 shutouts and also won the league's Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Award in 1963. His 11 shutouts are also the single-season record by a left-handed pitcher.
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