Pitcher's Triple Crown
- Makio Mukai
- Aug 29
- 5 min read
The Pitcher's Triple Crown is a pitcher who monopolizes the three titles of best ERA, most strikeouts, and most wins in the same season.
In the modern era of Major League Baseball, which began in 1901, 25 pitchers have achieved the Triple Crown a total of 35 times since Cy Young first achieved it in 1901. If we divide this into the 100 years of the 20th century and the 24 years of the 21st century up to last year, 17 pitchers achieved it a total of 27 times in the 100 years of the 20th century, and 8 pitchers achieved it a total of 8 times in the 24 years of the 21st century. It is safe to say that it is almost proportional to the number of years. In other words, the Pitcher's Triple Crown has appeared consistently regardless of the era.
However, strangely enough, there is a big difference between the 20th century and the 21st century when it comes to pitchers who have achieved it multiple times. In the 100 years of the 20th century, there were seven pitchers who achieved the feat multiple times (a total of 17 times for these seven pitchers), but in the 24 years of the 21st century, there was not a single pitcher who achieved the feat multiple times. If the feat appeared in proportion to the number of years, we would have liked to see two pitchers who achieved the feat multiple times in the 24 years of the 21st century, for a total of four.
Of the seven pitchers who achieved the feat multiple times in the 20th century, four achieved it twice (Christy Mathewson, Lefty Grove, Lefty Gomez, Roger Clemens), and three achieved it three times (Walter Johnson, Grover Alexander, Sandy Koufax).
Of these seven, four achieved it two years in a row (Grover Alexander, Lefty Grove, Sandy Koufax, Roger Clemens), but no pitcher achieved it three years in a row.
So, why has there been no pitcher in the 21st century who has achieved the Triple Crown multiple times in the past 24 years? It may be impossible to find out, but I thought about it anyway.
I looked into the eight pitchers who have achieved the Pitcher's Triple Crown once in the 24 years of the 21st century, and found out whether there was a season in which they won two of the Triple Crown titles but failed to win the remaining one, meaning they unfortunately missed out on a second Triple Crown. Four of the eight pitchers have done so a total of nine times (Randy Johnson three times, Johan Santana once, Justin Verlander twice, and Clayton Kershaw three times). Of these nine times, five times, which is more than half, they did not win the most wins (Randy Johnson three times, Johan Santana once, and Clayton Kershaw once). There were three times when they did not win the most strikeouts (Justin Verlander once, Clayton Kershaw twice), and one time when they did not win the best ERA (Justin Verlander).
Although it is difficult to draw any definitive conclusions from these results, I would like to share my personal impressions as follows.
I previously wrote a column titled "Unusual things in the title race" (it is included in the Data Deep Dive category of this website). In that column, I wrote that in recent Major League Baseball, just like in the past, there are many pitchers who win the best ERA and most strikeouts, which can be won solely through the individual pitcher's ability, for two or more consecutive years. However, when it comes to the most wins, which involve factors such as the team's scoring ability, it has become much more difficult to win them two years in a row than in the past, and I wrote that this may be because the scoring ability of each team is more equal than in the past.
Given that there have been five instances in the 21st century where a pitcher was unable to achieve a second Triple Crown because he was unable to win the most wins, the main reason why no pitcher has achieved the Triple Crown multiple times in the 21st century may be because the scoring ability of each team is more equal than in the past.
Finally, I would like to briefly touch on the Pitcher's Triple Crown in Japanese professional baseball.
In 1937, Eiji Sawamura, a legendary pitcher whose name will forever remain in the history of Japanese professional baseball, became the first pitcher to achieve the Triple Crown. Including Sawamura, 21 pitchers have achieved the Triple Crown a total of 24 times. In the 64 years since Sawamura's achievement in 1937 in the 20th century, 16 pitchers have achieved it a total of 17 times, and in the 24 years since the 21st century, five pitchers have achieved it a total of 7 times. Just like in Major League Baseball, it's fair to say that the Pitcher's Triple Crown has been achieved consistently in proportion to the number of years.
However, when it comes to achieving the feat multiple times, it is quite different from Major League Baseball. In the 20th century, one pitcher achieved the feat multiple times ( twice, but not two years in a row; it was achieved by Kazuhisa Inao, a legendary pitcher whose name will forever remain in history), and in the 21st century, one pitcher has also achieved the feat multiple times. That one pitcher from the 21st century is Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has been playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2024, and is the only pitcher in Japanese professional baseball to have achieved the Triple Crown three times. Moreover, it has been three years in a row (2021, 2022, 2023), which no one has managed to do in Major League Baseball.
Among Japanese pitchers who have played or are currently playing in the major leagues, five pitchers have won the Pitcher's Triple Crown in Japan besides Yoshinobu Yamamoto: Hideo Nomo, Koji Uehara, Kenta Maeda, Tomoyuki Sugano, and Kodai Senga. Each of them only achieved the feat once, but if these five pitchers had continued playing in Japan without moving to the Major Leagues, it is possible that they would have achieved it multiple times. However, this is merely a possibility, and in reality they did not achieve it. Furthermore, Yoshinobu Yamamoto won the Triple Crown three times by the age of 25 and moved to the major leagues at age 25, but all five of these pitchers moved to the major leagues after turning 25, and yet none of them have won the Triple Crown for a second time.
As you can see, Yoshinobu Yamamoto's record of achieving it three times, and in three consecutive years, is an outstanding and amazing record in the history of Japanese professional baseball.
( If I’ve made a mistake or left out something important, please let me know. I’ll try to make corrections or additions.)