Top 10 MLB Starting Pitchers Of All Time

A Blog By Dean

We finally reached the end of my Top 10 All-Time lists for all positions. I will soon complete my definitive Top 10 players of all time. However, with everything going on here at The Skippers View, I will probably need to put that on the back burner for two weeks.

Thank you for joining us on this journey for those of you that are new, and there are a lot of you. If you came from my MLB The Show post, I will put out a blog about my franchise in the next few days.

The overwhelming reaction to that post has been positive, and I have been talking with many great people. The most frustrating part is a bunch of big accounts just taking my post and not making much of an effort to give me credit (looking at you, Barstool, Bleacher Report, and MLB.)

Regardless, it is really cool. I hope you guys stick around and follow all the writers on our team. There are seventeen of us, and we absolutely love building a small community in this crazy baseball world.

For this blog, I added WAR7 Adj and S-JAWS to give some of the players more analytical backing. These advanced metrics evaluate pitchers by contextualizing their peak performance and career value. As you know, pitchers in the early 20th century pitched almost every day. The goal of these metrics is to factor in the different eras. 

Here is a brief description of each.

• WAR7 Adj (Adjusted Wins Above Replacement for 7 Peak Years): This metric focuses on a pitcher's best seven consecutive or non-consecutive seasons (by WAR) but adjusts for factors like era, run environment, and league norms to provide a fairer comparison across different baseball eras. It highlights a pitcher's dominance during peak years, making it valuable for assessing greatness.

• S-JAWS (Statistical Jaffe Wins Above Replacement Score): A refinement of JAWS (Jay Jaffe's metric), S-JAWS balances a pitcher's career WAR and peak WAR (often the WAR7 Adj) with additional adjustments for era, league, and park effects. It provides a more nuanced measure of a pitcher's Hall of Fame worthiness by integrating longevity and peak performance while accounting for external variables.

Alright, on to the list.

10. Cy Young

• Key Stats: 511 Wins, 315 Losses, 2.63 ERA, 2,803 Strikeouts, 1.13 WHIP, 7,356 Innings Pitched

• bWAR: 163.6

• WAR7: 84.8

• WAR7Adj: 50.8

• JAWS: 124.2

• S-JAWS: 107.2

• Accolades: Hall of Fame (1937), MLB Record Holder for Wins, Innings Pitched, and Complete Games

Why: The baseball historian in me is hurt right now as I put Cy Young at #10. As I said above, this was by far the most difficult to make. His 511 career wins, 749 complete games, and 7,356 innings pitched are untouchable records. The award that pitchers vie for every year bears his name. Yet, if I were to put Young any higher than this, I would be labeled an “unserious” baseball fan. Seeing so many young fans care so little and give so little credence to those who built this game is disheartening.

I guess I am now a “boomer.”

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9. Nolan Ryan

• Key Stats: 324 Wins, 292 Losses, 3.19 ERA, 5,714 Strikeouts, 1.25 WHIP, 5,386 Innings Pitched

• bWAR: 81.3

• WAR7: 43.1

• WAR7Adj: 38.2

• JAWS: 62.2

• S-JAWS: 59.7

• Accolades: Hall of Fame (1999), 8× All-Star, 7× No-Hitters, MLB Strikeout Leader (All-Time)

Why: Young analytic nerds here in 2025, many of which I consider friends, salivate at the idea of taking Nolan Ryan’s career, putting it into a spreadsheet, and telling you why some random no-name from the Braves is a better pitcher than Nolan Ryan. They will point out that he never won a Cy Young, even though their precious analytics show he should have won two.

I will leave them with this.

In Nolan Ryan’s 27th season, at 46, Ryan threw his final pitch. It was a 98 mph fastball. It tore his UCL in half. He calmly walked off the field, waved to the crowd, and called it a career.

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8. Randy Johnson

• Key Stats: 303 Wins, 166 Losses, 3.29 ERA, 4,875 Strikeouts, 1.17 WHIP, 4,135.1 Innings Pitched

• bWAR: 101.1

• WAR7: 63.3

• WAR7Adj: 60.4

• JAWS: 81.3

• S-JAWS: 80.8

• Accolades: Hall of Fame (2015), 5× Cy Young Awards, 10× All-Star, World Series MVP (2001)

Why: If he had killed two birds, I would have put him higher. Similar to Pedro, Johnson dominated during the steroid era. He won four Cy Youngs in a row in his late 30s in the steroid era. I am seriously debating flipping him and Pedro, but I am afraid of the backlash I will get from some of the analytical nerds.

Unlike hitters, I feel that with pitchers, the cave people come out and start yelling at me about arm angle and how much a pitch breaks. So, I am in constant fear during this list.

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7. Pedro Martínez

• Key Stats: 219 Wins, 100 Losses, 2.93 ERA, 3,154 Strikeouts, 1.05 WHIP, 2,827.1 Innings Pitched

• bWAR: 83.9

• WAR7: 58.2

• WAR7Adj: 58.2

• JAWS: 71.1

• S-JAWS: 71.1

• Accolades: Hall of Fame (2015), 3× Cy Young Awards, 8× All-Star, 1999 MLB Triple Crown Winner, 5x ERA Title.

Why: A lot of people want Pedro higher on this list because he was so dominant during the steroid era. If he took the Koufax route, left, and retired at 05 at 33, we could be talking. He didn’t, and we were stuck watching a mediocre Pedro for four more years. His 2000 season is one of the greatest seasons by a pitcher ever. However, his postseason numbers don’t jump off the page and hit you in the face.

The rest of these players on this list have a combination of longevity with great counting stats, playoff success, and or crazy peaks.

Pedro might have the craziest peak of all, but I have to keep him at #7.

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6. Bob Gibson

• Key Stats: 251 Wins, 174 Losses, 2.91 ERA, 3,117 Strikeouts, 1.19 WHIP, 3,884.1 Innings Pitched

• bWAR: 89.2

• WAR7: 61.2

• WAR7Adj: 52.6

• JAWS: 75.2

• S-JAWS: 70.9

• Accolades: Hall of Fame (1981), 2× Cy Young Awards, NL MVP (1968), 2× World Series MVP

Why: Gibson’s 1967/68 playoff numbers and his 1968 season alone are enough to justify him being this high on the list. Throw in an MVP, 2x World Series MVP, and some Cy Youngs, and I put him just outside the Top 5.

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5. Tom Seaver

• Key Stats: 311 Wins, 205 Losses, 2.86 ERA, 3,640 Strikeouts, 1.12 WHIP, 4,783 Innings Pitched

• bWAR: 109.9

• WAR7: 59.3

• WAR7Adj: 53.8

• JAWS: 84.6

• S-JAWS: 81.9

• Accolades: Hall of Fame (1992), 3× Cy Young Awards, 12× All-Star, World Series Champion (1969)

Why: There is probably a little bias here, as I grew up being told Tom Seaver was a top-five pitcher of all time. Similar to this list, Seaver falls smack in the middle of baseball history. Because of that, I think he gains respect and admiration from old-time baseball fans (me) and data-driven fans (most of The Skippers View team).

It is a shame that he was not a Met for his entire career. Most people don’t even picture him in another uniform, but the stroke of irony is that he was on the 1986 Red Sox team that lost to the Mets.

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4. Christy Mathewson

• Key Stats: 373 Wins, 188 Losses, 2.13 ERA, 2,507 Strikeouts, 1.06 WHIP, 4,788.2 Innings Pitched

• bWAR: 106.7

• WAR7: 70.2

• WAR 7 Adj: 53.1

• JAWS: 88.5

• S-JAWS: 79.9

• Accolades: Hall of Fame (1936), 2× Triple Crown Winner, World Series Champion (1905)

Why: Christy Mathewson’s three shutouts in the 1905 World Series probably should be considered the greatest postseason performance of all time. However, the modern fans will not acknowledge that.

To me, he pitched to players on his level. You want to say he didn’t pitch as hard, but they didn’t hit as hard. He is in the top 10 all-time for wins, shutouts, and ERA. He was also one of the five players selected to be in the inaugural class of the Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, he passed away from tuberculosis contracted while fighting in World War I.

I have a soft spot for the type of person he was, unlike many ball players of the time. Mathewson was a devout Christian, husband, and father. He famously never played on Sundays.

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3. Greg Maddux

• Key Stats: 355 Wins, 227 Losses, 3.16 ERA, 3,371 Strikeouts, 1.14 WHIP, 5,008.1 Innings Pitched

• bWAR: 106.6

• WAR7: 56.3

• JAWS: 81.4

• S-JAWS: 81.1

• Accolades: Hall of Fame (2014), 4× Cy Young Awards, 18× Gold Gloves, World Series Champion (1995)

Why: Maddux’s Cy Young Awards came in consecutive years. So, he has the peak of any player on this list. He has the counting stats, and he has solid (not amazing) playoff numbers. However, he was 3-1 in the 1995 postseason,n where the Braves won the World Series. In that World Series, he pitched a two-hit complete game victory. It was just the 15th two-hitter in World Series history. Maddux wasn’t great in Game 5, which honestly was a big reason he got bumped to #3. I genuinely feel like you can make the argument for him being #2. A lot of modern fans do not appreciate his dominance and longevity.

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2. Sandy Koufax

• Key Stats: 165 Wins, 87 Losses, 2.76 ERA, 2,396 Strikeouts, 1.11 WHIP, 2,324.1 Innings Pitched

• bWAR: 48.9

• WAR7: 46.0

• WAR7Adj: 39.5

• JAWS: 47.4

• S-JAWS: 44.2

• Accolades: Hall of Fame (1972), 3× Cy Young Awards, NL MVP (1963), 4× World Series Champion, 3x Triple Crown winner, 5x ERA Title, 2x ML PoY, 2x WS MVP

Why: The amount of trophies Koufax has in his closet, compared to the years he played, is incredible. The 3x Triple Crowns and Cy Young Awards alone would get him in the Top 10. I struggled with this placing partly because of the lack of longevity in Koufax’s career. Also, he really wan’t amazing the first few years. From 1955 (age 19) to 1960 (age 24) he was above average, but nothing out of this world. His last four seasons were his best (two of them being some of the best ever), and then he walked away.

So, he hits the peak criteria but falls well short of the longevity number needed to make this Top 10. What really puts him over the top for me, is his postseason numbers.

He had a 0.95 ERA and 0.82 WHIP in his postseason career. This was over 4 World Series’ that gained him 2x WS MVPs. Gibson is really the only player that comes close in terms of postseason numbers, but Koufax’s peak is a different stratosphere.

I am pretty confident that people will be fine with this placement, but I am not so sure….

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1. Walter Johnson

• Key Stats: 417 Wins, 279 Losses, 2.17 ERA, 3,509 Strikeouts, 1.06 WHIP, 5,914.1 Innings Pitched

• bWAR: 166.9

• WAR7: 91.0

• WAR7 Adj: 66.2

• JAWS: 131.4

• Accolades: Hall of Fame (1936), 2× AL MVP, World Series Champion (1924)

Why: If the Cy Young Award existed during Walter Johnson’s career, he would have won *checks notes* at least five, if not more. It is tough to judge pitcher war from the early days of baseball. Because they pitched so much, you have players like Tim Keefe, who compiled 20.2 bWAR in 1883. So, you have to dive into the numbers. Johnson’s 16.5 bWAR in 1913 and 15.4 bWAR in 1912 are the only seasons in the Top 20 bWAR seasons where the pitcher pitched LESS than 400 innings. Johnson pitched 346 and 369, respectively. Of course, pitchers today barely touch 300 innings, but it is easier to quantify compared to the 678 Old Hoss Radbourn pitched in 1884.

Johnson still leads all categories even when you take the adjusted stats like WAR7Adj and S-JAWS.

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