what are the most strikeouts in a season before the all-star break by a pitcher since 2002

Since 2002, Chris Sale has fanned the most batters in a season before the All-Star Game, with 188 strikeouts in 2018.

	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	Chris Sale C. Sale	188	2018	BOS	20	10	4	.714	20	2.23	0	0	0	129.0	85	32	34	10	31	9	0	0	505	3	13.12	2.16	6.06	0.70	37.2	6.1	0.90	.281	2.37	5.93
2	Curt Schilling C. Schilling	186	2002	ARI	19	14	3	.824	19	3.08	3	1	0	140.1	108	48	48	17	13	2	0	0	539	5	11.93	0.83	14.31	1.09	34.5	2.4	0.86	.283	3.08	6.93
3	Max Scherzer M. Scherzer	182	2018	WSH	20	12	5	.706	20	2.41	1	1	0	134.2	87	36	39	15	34	7	0	3	527	4	12.16	2.27	5.35	1.00	34.5	6.5	0.90	.249	2.61	5.81
4	Max Scherzer M. Scherzer	181	2019	WSH	19	9	5	.643	19	2.30	0	0	0	129.1	104	33	36	9	23	7	0	2	515	0	12.60	1.60	7.87	0.63	35.1	4.5	0.98	.322	2.51	7.24
5	Chris Sale C. Sale	178	2017	BOS	18	11	4	.733	18	2.75	1	0	0	127.2	93	39	42	11	22	4	0	0	496	1	12.55	1.55	8.09	0.78	35.9	4.4	0.90	.292	2.96	6.56
6	Gerrit Cole G. Cole	177	2018	HOU	20	10	2	.833	20	2.52	1	1	0	128.1	81	36	39	14	45	5	0	0	503	6	12.41	3.16	3.93	0.98	35.2	8.9	0.98	.256	2.74	5.68
7	Trevor Bauer T. Bauer	175	2018	CLE	20	8	6	.571	20	2.24	0	0	0	136.1	105	34	42	6	42	7	0	2	557	11	11.55	2.77	4.17	0.40	31.4	7.5	1.08	.303	2.77	6.93
8	Max Scherzer M. Scherzer	173	2017	WSH	18	10	5	.667	18	2.10	2	0	0	128.1	73	30	36	13	27	9	0	0	487	4	12.13	1.89	6.41	0.91	35.5	5.5	0.78	.226	2.52	5.12
9	Justin Verlander J. Verlander	172	2018	HOU	21	9	5	.643	21	2.29	1	1	0	137.2	91	35	38	16	24	7	0	0	530	2	11.24	1.57	7.17	1.05	32.5	4.5	0.84	.241	2.48	5.95
10	Randy Johnson R. Johnson	171	2002	ARI	19	12	3	.800	19	2.47	2	1	0	138.2	113	38	45	15	35	5	0	0	550	2	11.10	2.27	4.89	0.97	31.1	6.4	1.07	.302	2.92	7.33
11	Gerrit Cole G. Cole	170	2019	HOU	19	9	5	.643	19	3.09	0	0	0	116.2	89	40	46	17	30	2	0	0	463	1	13.11	2.31	5.67	1.31	36.7	6.5	1.02	.295	3.55	6.87
12	Spencer Strider S. Strider	166	2023	ATL	18	11	2	.846	18	3.44	0	0	0	104.2	80	40	44	13	34	5	0	1	427	4	14.27	2.92	4.88	1.12	38.9	8.0	1.09	.321	3.78	6.88
13	Max Scherzer M. Scherzer	164	2016	WSH	19	10	6	.625	19	3.03	1	0	0	127.2	88	43	44	21	34	3	0	1	500	1	11.56	2.40	4.82	1.48	32.8	6.8	0.96	.241	3.10	6.20
14	David Price D. Price	164	2014	TBR	20	9	7	.563	20	3.23	2	0	0	147.2	137	53	61	19	21	5	0	1	599	2	10.00	1.28	7.81	1.16	27.4	3.5	1.07	.303	3.72	8.35
15	Garrett Crochet G. Crochet	160	2025	BOS	20	10	4	.714	20	2.23	1	1	0	129.1	100	32	35	10	34	0	0	0	513	4	11.13	2.37	4.71	0.70	31.2	6.6	1.04	.291	2.44	6.96
16	Clayton Kershaw C. Kershaw	160	2015	LAD	18	6	6	.500	18	2.85	1	1	0	123.0	99	39	45	11	27	4	0	1	490	6	11.71	1.98	5.93	0.80	32.7	5.5	1.02	.306	3.29	7.24
17	Clayton Kershaw C. Kershaw	159	2017	LAD	19	14	2	.875	19	2.18	1	0	0	132.1	94	32	35	18	22	0	0	0	506	3	10.81	1.50	7.23	1.22	31.4	4.3	0.88	.248	2.38	6.39
18	Chris Sale C. Sale	157	2015	CWS	17	8	4	.667	17	2.72	1	0	0	119.1	90	36	39	10	23	4	0	0	469	2	11.84	1.73	6.83	0.75	33.5	4.9	0.95	.291	2.94	6.79
19	Yu Darvish Y. Darvish	157	2013	TEX	18	8	4	.667	18	3.02	0	0	0	119.1	84	40	42	15	41	5	0	1	483	5	11.84	3.09	3.83	1.13	32.5	8.5	1.05	.260	3.17	6.34
20	Kerry Wood K. Wood	156	2003	CHC	19	9	6	.600	19	3.19	2	0	0	127.0	91	45	46	16	58	11	0	1	530	6	11.06	4.11	2.69	1.13	29.4	10.9	1.17	.260	3.26	6.45
21	James Paxton J. Paxton	155	2018	SEA	20	8	4	.667	20	3.70	2	1	0	119.1	97	49	49	16	33	1	0	0	481	6	11.69	2.49	4.70	1.21	32.2	6.9	1.09	.293	3.70	7.32
22	Zack Wheeler Z. Wheeler	154	2025	PHI	19	9	3	.750	19	2.36	1	0	0	122.0	79	32	34	13	26	4	0	0	467	1	11.36	1.92	5.92	0.96	33.0	5.6	0.86	.244	2.51	5.83
23	Jose Fernandez J. Fernandez	154	2016	MIA	17	11	4	.733	17	2.52	0	0	0	107.1	78	30	34	7	31	4	0	3	421	5	12.91	2.60	4.97	0.59	36.6	7.4	1.02	.316	2.85	6.54
24	Corey Kluber C. Kluber	154	2015	CLE	19	4	10	.286	19	3.38	1	0	0	133.1	120	50	54	10	28	6	0	2	534	5	10.40	1.89	5.50	0.68	28.8	5.2	1.11	.327	3.64	8.10
25	Felix Hernandez F. Hernandez	154	2014	SEA	20	11	2	.846	20	2.12	0	0	0	144.1	105	34	41	5	25	3	0	0	556	13	9.60	1.56	6.16	0.31	27.7	4.5	0.90	.271	2.56	6.55