List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders

The following list is of the top 100 pitchers in career strikeouts in Major League Baseball.

In baseball, a strikeout occurs when the batter receives three strikes during his time at bat.

[6][7] The parentheses adjacent to an active player denote the number of strikeouts in the current season.

The last change in the cutoff for the top 100 occurred on June 22, 2024, when Charlie Morton struck out his 1,957th batter, displacing Whitey Ford.

A player is considered "inactive" if he has not played baseball for one year or has announced his retirement.

Nolan Ryan is the all-time leader in career strikeouts.
Justin Verlander is the active leader in career strikeouts and is 10th all-time.