Editing Complete game (section)

==Historical trend==
{| class="wikitable sortable" border="1" style="text-align: right"
|+ Historical MLB complete game trend
|-
! Year !! Games started !! Complete games !! Complete game % !! class="unsortable"| Ref
|-
|{{mlby|1904}} || 2,496 || 2,186 || 87.6 || <ref name=baseball_prospectus>[[#prospectus2007|Baseball Prospectus 2007, p.75]]</ref>
|-
|{{mlby|1914}} || 3,758 || 2,067 || 55.0 || <ref name=baseball_prospectus/>
|-
|{{mlby|1924}} || 2,462 || 1,198 || 48.7 || <ref name=baseball_prospectus/>
|-
|{{mlby|1934}} || 2,446 || 1,061 || 43.4 || <ref name=baseball_prospectus/>
|-
|{{mlby|1944}} || 2,484 || 1,123 || 45.2 || <ref name=baseball_prospectus/>
|-
|{{mlby|1954}} || 2,472 || 840  || 34.0 || <ref name=baseball_prospectus/>
|-
|{{mlby|1964}} || 3,252 || 797 || 24.5 || <ref name=baseball_prospectus/>
|-
|{{mlby|1974}} || 3,890 || 1,089 || 28.0 || <ref name=baseball_prospectus/>
|-
|{{mlby|1984}} || 4,210 || 632 || 15.0 || <ref name=baseball_prospectus/>
|-
|{{mlby|1994}} || 3,200 || 255 || 8.0 || <ref name=baseball_prospectus/>
|-
|{{mlby|2004}} || 4,854 || 150 || 3.1 || <ref name=baseball_prospectus/>
|-
|{{mlby|2014}} || 4,860 || 118 || 2.4 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/2014-standard-pitching.shtml |title=2014 Major League Baseball Standard Pitching |publisher=[[Sports Reference LLC]] |access-date=October 2, 2014}}</ref>
|-
|{{mlby|2024}} || 4,858 || 28 || 0.6 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/2024-standard-pitching.shtml|title=2024 Major League Baseball Standard Pitching |publisher=[[Sports Reference LLC]] |access-date=October 2, 2014}}</ref>
|}
In the early 20th century, it was common for most good [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB) pitchers to pitch a complete game almost every start, barring injury or ejection. Pitchers were expected to complete games they started. Over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries, complete games became less common, to the point where a modern pitcher may pitch an entire season without throwing a complete game. (In the 2024 MLB season, 0.6% of starts were complete games.)<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/2024.shtml] 2024 Major League Baseball Standard Pitching </ref> To put this in perspective, as recently as the 1980s, 10–15 complete games a year by a star pitcher was not unheard of, and in 1980, [[Oakland Athletics]] pitcher [[Rick Langford]] threw 22 consecutive complete games.<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.cgi?n1=langfri01&t=p&year=1980&share=1.82#129-150-sum:pitching_gamelogs Rick Langford Game Logs 1980 Season]</ref> Years earlier, [[Robin Roberts (baseball)|Robin Roberts]] of the [[Philadelphia Phillies]] threw 28 consecutive complete games, spanning the 1952 and 1953 seasons. In 1962, a news article detailed [[Bo Belinsky]]'s concern when he failed to complete six starts in a row.<ref>{{cite web|last=Richman|first=Milton|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1891&dat=19620623&id=RaAfAAAAIBAJ&pg=836,2145793&hl=en|title=Belinsky Finally Wins 7th|work=The Gadsden Times|page=8|date=June 22, 1962|access-date=May 31, 2020}}</ref>

This change has been brought about by strict adherence to [[pitch count]]s as a basis for removing a pitcher, even though he may appear to be pitching well, and new pitching philosophies in general. Many have come to believe that the risk of arm injuries becomes far more prevalent after a pitcher has thrown 100 to 120 pitches in a single game.<ref>[[#prospectus2007|Baseball Prospectus 2007, p.79]]</ref> Though Hall-of-Famer [[Nolan Ryan]] once threw well over 200 pitches in a single game (a 1974 contest in which he pitched 13 innings),<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CAL/CAL197406140.shtml June 14, 1974 Boxscore, Red Sox vs. Angels]</ref> it is now rare for a manager to allow a pitcher to throw more than 120 pitches in a start. Former pitcher [[Carl Erskine]] noted the increase in ex-pitchers on coaching staffs since the 1950s, whom he considered better evaluators of a pitchers' ability to pitch late into games.<ref>{{cite book|title=Fireman: The Evolution of the Closer in Baseball|first=Fran|last=Zimniuch|pages=[https://archive.org/details/firemanevolution0000zimn/page/73 73–4]|publisher=[[Triumph Books]]|location=Chicago|year=2010|isbn=978-1-60078-312-8|ref=zimniuch|url=https://archive.org/details/firemanevolution0000zimn/page/73}}</ref> Given this, [[sabermetrician]]s generally regard [[Cy Young]]'s total of 749 complete games as the career baseball record that will never be broken.{{citation needed|date=July 2011}}  Further supporting the belief is that only three pitchers (Young, Ryan, and [[Don Sutton]]) even made at least 749 starts in their careers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/GS_career.shtml |title= Career Leaders & Records for Games Started |publisher=Baseball-Reference |access-date=July 22, 2017}}</ref>

[[James Shields (baseball)|James Shields]] threw 11 complete games in the 2011 season for the [[Tampa Bay Rays]], becoming the first pitcher to reach double digits in a single season since [[CC Sabathia]] threw 10 complete games for the [[Cleveland Indians]] and [[Milwaukee Brewers]] in 2008. The last pitcher to throw as many as 15 complete games in a single season was [[Curt Schilling]], who accomplished that feat for the [[Philadelphia Phillies]] in 1998. The last pitcher to throw 20 complete games in a single season was [[Fernando Valenzuela]], who did so for the [[Los Angeles Dodgers]] in 1986. The last pitcher to throw 25 complete games in a season was [[Rick Langford]], who had 28 for the [[Oakland Athletics]] in 1980. The last pitcher to throw 30 complete games in a season was [[Catfish Hunter]], who did so for the [[New York Yankees]] in 1975.