Major league pitchers beating all 30 teams

Since 1998, there have been 30 teams in major league baseball. It is very rare for a pitcher to record a win against every team. In earlier times, two things conspired to make it nearly impossible to defeat all teams in both leagues (even before expansion increased the number to 30):

• Before the era of free-agency, in which players are free to move to another team at the end of their contract, a pitcher would play for only a few teams, and could not, of course, win a game against his own team.
• Before inter-league play, a pitcher would see only half of the 30 teams in any single season, unless traded to a team in the other league. Even with inter-league play, a pitcher may not have his spot in a typical 5-man rotation match the games in the single 3- or 4-game series against another team, and only a few teams from the other league are played in any season.

In any case, defeating all teams is more likely only if a pitcher has a long career. Assuming a top notch pitcher manages to win against every team in a season, it will still only be 19 teams, unless he was traded. It is far more likely that his wins will come against 10 to 12 teams, most of which he has already beaten.

As of May 11, 2016, there have been 17 pitchers who have beaten all teams. The San Francisco Giants are the only franchise with three players who accomplished the feat while on their roster: Randy Johnson, Barry Zito, and Tim Hudson.

• 1. Al Leiter, April 30, 2002^[1][2]
• 2. Kevin Brown, March 31, 2004
• 3. Terry Mulholland, July 3, 2004^[3]
• 4. Curt Schilling, September 10, 2004
• 5. Woody Williams, September 26, 2006
• 6. Jamie Moyer, May 26, 2008
• 7. Randy Johnson, April 19, 2009
• 8. Barry Zito, June 12, 2010
• 9. A.J. Burnett, July 21, 2012
• 10. Javier Vázquez, July 21, 2010^[4]
• 11. Vicente Padilla, August 10, 2010
• 12. Derek Lowe, May 10, 2012
• 13. Dan Haren, August 9, 2013^[5]
• 14. Kyle Lohse, June 26, 2015^[6]
• 15. Tim Hudson, July 26, 2015^[7]
• 16. John Lackey, April 18, 2016^[8]
• 17. Max Scherzer, May 11, 2016^[9]

As of September 11, 2016 seven active pitchers have defeated 29 teams.

• Bartolo Colon. He still needs to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks.
• CC Sabathia. He still needs to defeat the Miami Marlins.
• Zack Greinke. He still needs to defeat the Kansas City Royals.
• Ervin Santana. He still needs to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers.
• Ubaldo Jimenez. He still needs to defeat the Colorado Rockies.
• Francisco Liriano. He still needs to defeat the Miami Marlins.
• Jake Arrieta. He still needs to defeat the Chicago Cubs.

As of September 9, 2016, six active pitchers have defeated 28 teams.

• R.A. Dickey. He still needs to defeat the Colorado Rockies and Chicago Cubs.
• Scott Kazmir. He still needs to defeat the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers.
• Edwin Jackson. He still needs to defeat the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres.
• Joe Blanton. He still needs to defeat the New York Yankees and Oakland A's.
• J.A. Happ. He still needs to defeat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• Jon Lester. He still needs to defeat the Boston Red Sox and Miami Marlins.

As of May 14, 2016, five active pitchers have defeated 27 teams.

• Jake Peavy. He still needs to defeat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, New York Yankees, and Texas Rangers.
• Jon Lester. He still needs to defeat the Boston Red Sox, Miami Marlins, and Houston Astros.
• Gio Gonzalez. He still needs to defeat the Chicago White Sox, Oakland A's, and Washington Nationals.
• Chris Young. He still needs to defeat the Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, and Texas Rangers.
• Jake Arrieta. He still needs to defeat the Chicago Cubs, Oakland A's and Houston Astros.

(Freddy García, who hasn't filed retirement papers, is also shy just three teams: Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Yankees, and Texas Rangers).

As of May 14, 2016, the following active pitchers have defeated 26 teams.

• Justin Verlander. He still needs to defeat the Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Miami Marlins, and San Francisco Giants.
• James Shields. He still needs to defeat the Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, and Washington Nationals.
• Anibal Sanchez. He still needs to defeat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and San Diego Padres.
• Edinson Vólquez. He still needs to defeat the Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers, and Toronto Blue Jays.
• Matt Garza. He still needs to defeat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Tampa Bay Rays.

References