Max Scherzer just joined the most exclusive club in baseball. With 3,516 career strikeouts, the right-hander passed Gaylord Perry and moved into 10th place on MLB’s all-time strikeout list — a list that starts with Nolan Ryan‘s untouchable 5,714 and includes almost nobody who isn’t already in Cooperstown or headed there.
A Number That Puts Him in a Different Conversation
Striking out a batter feels routine in modern baseball. Piling up 3,516 of them across a career does not. Here’s how the top ten looks right now:
- Nolan Ryan — 5,714 K
- Randy Johnson — 4,875 K
- Roger Clemens — 4,672 K
- Steve Carlton — 4,136 K
- Bert Blyleven — 3,701 K
- Tom Seaver — 3,640 K
- Don Sutton — 3,574 K
- Justin Verlander — 3,554 K
- Gaylord Perry — 3,534 K
- Max Scherzer — 3,516 K ✅
Eight of those nine names above him already have a plaque in Cooperstown. Verlander is on his way. That’s the company Scherzer is keeping now.
For context on Perry: he pitched until age 44 and needed 22 seasons to reach 3,534 strikeouts. Scherzer passed him and has his sights set higher.
A Career That Defied Every Setback
Scherzer didn’t get here through quiet longevity. He got here by stringing together elite season after elite season — in Washington, Los Angeles, and New York — and pitching through injuries that would have ended most careers early. His three Cy Young Awards (Detroit in 2013, Washington in 2016 and 2017) are the backbone of a legacy that now has a hard numerical floor that’s very hard to ignore.
What makes this milestone especially striking is where it leaves him going forward. Every strikeout from here widens the gap on Perry and closes in on Don Sutton (3,574 K) — just 58 away — and Tom Seaver (3,640 K). There’s no guarantee he reaches either, but the conversation has already shifted: Scherzer isn’t just a great pitcher. He’s a historically great pitcher.
What’s Next
The gap between Scherzer and Verlander is just 38 strikeouts — the kind of distance that can disappear in a few weeks of quality starts. Sutton at No. 7 is 58 Ks away. Both are reachable if Scherzer keeps pitching the way that got him here.
The MLB all-time top 10 in strikeouts is probably the hardest list to crack in the sport. Nine men did it before him, and most of them took decades. Scherzer got there. The clock starts now.
