most pitches ever thrown in a mlb game
Pitch count Since the 1960s, it has not been common for the starting pitcher to pitch a complete game. According to Baseball Reference pitchers have completed less than 30 percent of their starts every year since 1959. Comparisons with the dead-ball era pre-1920 are misleading, since the pitcher's behavior was very different.[8] Some examples of high pitch count games include a 26-inning game on May 1, 1920 where Leon Cadore of Brooklyn and Joe Oeschger of Boston pitched an estimated 345 and 319 pitches;[8] also, Nolan Ryan threw 164 in a 1989 game, aged 42.[16] Stats LLC began tracking pitch counts in 1988, and MLB keeps official data since 1999. The highest pitch count since 1990 is 172, by Tim Wakefield for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Atlanta Braves on April 27, 1993; however, it should be known that Wakefield's primary pitch was the knuckleball, an off-speed pitch. Off-speed pitches are less strenuous on a pitcher's arm compared to a fastball. Pitch counts above 125 are increasingly rare:[16]