most strike outs by a pitcher in a single season in the last 20 years

Between December 17, 2005 and December 17, 2025, Gerrit Cole has struck out the most batters in a season, with 326 strikeouts in 2019.

	NAME	SO	SEASON	TM	G	W	L	W%	GS	ERA	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	R	HR	BB	HBP	GF	IBB	TBF	WP	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	HR/9	K%	BB%	WHIP	BABIP	RA	H/9
1	Gerrit Cole G. Cole	326	2019	HOU	33	20	5	.800	33	2.50	0	0	0	212.1	142	59	66	29	48	3	0	0	817	4	13.82	2.03	6.79	1.23	39.9	5.9	0.89	.275	2.80	6.02
2	Chris Sale C. Sale	308	2017	BOS	32	17	8	.680	32	2.90	1	0	0	214.1	165	69	73	24	43	8	0	0	851	3	12.93	1.81	7.16	1.01	36.2	5.1	0.97	.301	3.07	6.93
3	Clayton Kershaw C. Kershaw	301	2015	LAD	33	16	7	.696	33	2.13	4	3	0	232.2	163	55	62	15	42	5	0	1	890	9	11.64	1.62	7.17	0.58	33.8	4.7	0.88	.281	2.40	6.31
4	Justin Verlander J. Verlander	300	2019	HOU	34	21	6	.778	34	2.58	2	1	0	223.0	137	64	66	36	42	6	0	0	847	4	12.11	1.70	7.14	1.45	35.4	5.0	0.80	.218	2.66	5.53
5	Max Scherzer M. Scherzer	300	2018	WSH	33	18	7	.720	33	2.53	2	1	0	220.2	150	62	66	23	51	12	0	4	866	4	12.24	2.08	5.88	0.94	34.6	5.9	0.91	.265	2.69	6.12
6	Justin Verlander J. Verlander	290	2018	HOU	34	16	9	.640	34	2.52	1	1	0	214.0	156	60	63	28	37	8	0	0	833	5	12.20	1.56	7.84	1.18	34.8	4.4	0.90	.272	2.65	6.56
7	Max Scherzer M. Scherzer	284	2016	WSH	34	20	7	.741	34	2.96	1	0	0	228.1	165	75	77	31	56	6	0	2	902	2	11.19	2.21	5.07	1.22	31.5	6.2	0.97	.255	3.04	6.50
8	Spencer Strider S. Strider	281	2023	ATL	32	19	5	.792	32	3.86	0	0	0	186.2	146	80	85	22	58	9	0	1	763	6	13.55	2.80	4.84	1.06	36.8	7.6	1.09	.316	4.10	7.04
9	Yu Darvish Y. Darvish	277	2013	TEX	32	13	9	.591	32	2.83	0	0	0	209.2	145	66	68	26	80	8	0	1	841	7	11.89	3.43	3.46	1.12	32.9	9.5	1.07	.264	2.92	6.22
10	Gerrit Cole G. Cole	276	2018	HOU	32	15	5	.750	32	2.88	1	1	0	200.1	143	64	68	19	64	7	0	0	799	9	12.40	2.88	4.31	0.85	34.5	8.0	1.03	.286	3.05	6.42
11	Max Scherzer M. Scherzer	276	2015	WSH	33	14	12	.538	33	2.79	4	3	0	228.2	176	71	74	27	34	5	0	2	899	10	10.86	1.34	8.12	1.06	30.7	3.8	0.92	.268	2.91	6.93
12	Chris Sale C. Sale	274	2015	CWS	31	13	11	.542	31	3.41	1	0	0	208.2	185	79	88	23	42	13	0	0	854	7	11.82	1.81	6.52	0.99	32.1	4.9	1.09	.323	3.80	7.98
13	David Price D. Price	271	2014	TOT	34	15	12	.556	34	3.26	3	0	0	248.1	230	90	100	25	38	5	0	1	1,009	2	9.82	1.38	7.13	0.91	26.9	3.8	1.08	.306	3.62	8.34
14	Jacob deGrom J. deGrom	269	2018	NYM	32	10	9	.526	32	1.70	1	0	0	217.0	152	41	48	10	46	5	0	3	835	2	11.16	1.91	5.85	0.41	32.2	5.5	0.91	.281	1.99	6.30
15	Corey Kluber C. Kluber	269	2014	CLE	34	18	9	.667	34	2.44	3	1	0	235.2	207	64	72	14	51	6	0	3	951	3	10.27	1.95	5.27	0.53	28.3	5.4	1.09	.316	2.75	7.91
16	Justin Verlander J. Verlander	269	2009	DET	35	19	9	.679	35	3.45	3	1	0	240.0	219	92	99	20	63	6	0	5	982	8	10.09	2.36	4.27	0.75	27.4	6.4	1.18	.319	3.71	8.21
17	Max Scherzer M. Scherzer	268	2017	WSH	31	16	6	.727	31	2.51	2	0	0	200.2	126	56	62	22	55	11	0	2	780	4	12.02	2.47	4.87	0.99	34.4	7.1	0.90	.245	2.78	5.65
18	Corey Kluber C. Kluber	265	2017	CLE	29	18	4	.818	29	2.25	5	3	0	203.2	141	51	56	21	36	5	0	2	777	4	11.71	1.59	7.36	0.93	34.1	4.6	0.87	.267	2.47	6.23
19	Tim Lincecum T. Lincecum	265	2008	SFG	34	18	5	.783	33	2.62	2	1	0	227.0	182	66	72	11	84	6	0	1	928	17	10.51	3.33	3.15	0.44	28.6	9.1	1.17	.304	2.85	7.22
20	Tim Lincecum T. Lincecum	261	2009	SFG	32	15	7	.682	32	2.48	4	2	0	225.1	168	62	69	10	68	6	0	2	905	11	10.42	2.72	3.84	0.40	28.8	7.5	1.05	.282	2.76	6.71
21	Shane Bieber S. Bieber	259	2019	CLE	34	15	8	.652	33	3.28	3	2	0	214.1	186	78	86	31	40	6	1	1	859	6	10.88	1.68	6.48	1.30	30.2	4.7	1.05	.296	3.61	7.81
22	Gerrit Cole G. Cole	257	2022	NYY	33	13	8	.619	33	3.50	0	0	0	200.2	154	78	81	33	50	2	0	0	793	2	11.53	2.24	5.14	1.48	32.4	6.3	1.02	.268	3.63	6.91
23	Garrett Crochet G. Crochet	255	2025	BOS	32	18	5	.783	32	2.59	1	1	0	205.1	165	59	62	24	46	3	0	0	814	7	11.18	2.02	5.54	1.05	31.3	5.7	1.03	.290	2.72	7.23
24	Jacob deGrom J. deGrom	255	2019	NYM	32	11	8	.579	32	2.43	0	0	0	204.0	154	55	59	19	44	7	0	1	804	2	11.25	1.94	5.80	0.84	31.7	5.5	0.97	.282	2.60	6.79
25	Justin Verlander J. Verlander	254	2016	DET	34	16	9	.640	34	3.04	2	0	0	227.2	171	77	81	30	57	8	0	1	903	6	10.04	2.25	4.46	1.19	28.1	6.3	1.00	.255	3.20	6.76