Come On Baby Finish What You Started

I’m pretty sure that Van Halen wasn’t talking about baseball, but the phrase applies to the state of starting pitching in Major League Baseball today. Finishing what they started is almost nonexistent.

In 1974, Texas Ranger pitcher Ferguson Jenkins was the MLB leader in complete games, with 29. There were eight others with 20 or more, and there were 1089 complete games thrown by the 24 professional teams in existence at the time.

In 2025, three pitchers (Tanner Bibee, Framber Valdez, and Nick Lodolo) led the way with 2 complete games, and 23 others managed to get 1, for a total of 29 by the 32 current franchises. That was one more than the all time low of 28 in 2024.

What a difference fifty years makes - a drop of 97%. I’ve heard Fergie Jenkins say that he felt like a failure if he didn’t give his team a full nine innings. Now a starter is happy if he lasts five, and a “quality start” is six innings with no more than 3 runs allowed. Old Horse Radbourn must be rolling in his grave. In 1884, he started - and completed - 73 games, winning 60.

Today we have reduced expectations, pitch counts, 5 or 6 man rotations, and multiple injuries. Bullpens are designed for frequent appearances. Remember when your ace starter won 20+ games? In the previously mentioned 1974, 11 starters won at least 20. Since 2016 there have been three. They don’t stay in the game long enough to get a win -much less a complete game.

The career leader in complete games is of course Cy Young, with 749! If you continue down the list, you have to get down to #19 to find someone who pitched during my lifetime - Warren Spahn, with 382. There are 137 pitchers with at least 200 . Only 14 of them have pitched during my time on earth - and that’s a pretty long time.

There are 410 who have recorded 100 or more complete games, including Babe Ruth, who was also a pretty good hitter. These hurlers do not have to worry about being passed on the list. The leaders among active players are Justin Verlander with 26, Chris Sale at 16, and Max Scherzer and Sandy Alcantara, who each have a dozen. With the current state of the game, we may never again see a pitcher accumulate double digits in complete games in their career, and certainly not in a season. Just another example of reminiscing about “the good old days”.

That’s one man’s opinion - what’s yours?