And, interestingly, since Felix and J-Rod had pitched complete games as well, that vaulted the Mariners into leading the AL in complete games with 3. Toronto's next with 2, both pitched by Roy Halladay.
I know that complete games have been going extinct over the last 20 years or so as bullpen roles become more defined and teams become less likely to let their starters throw a ton of pitches and risk injuring those multimillion-dollar arms, but it was kind of fun to run the numbers and see how Seattle's complete-game win totals have compared to the rest of the league, and since I generated this for myself, I figured I might as well share it with you all:
Year AL CG PCT CG AVG Leader Seattle Leader CG STS CG PCT
1977 586 25.9% 41.9 BAL (65, 40.4%) (18, 11.1%) Glenn Abbott 7 34 20.6%
1978 645 28.5% 46.1 BAL (65, 40.4%) (28, 17.5%) Glenn Abbott 8 28 28.6%
1979 551 24.4% 39.4 MIL (61, 7.9%) (37, 22.8%) Mike Parrott 13 30 43.3%
1980 549 24.2% 39.2 OAK (94, 58.0%) (31, 19.0%) Rick Honeycutt 9 30 30.0%
1981 334 22.3% 23.9 OAK (60, 55.0%) (10, 9.1%) Floyd Bannister 5 20 25.0%
1982 445 19.6% 31.8 DET (45, 27.8%) (23, 14.2%) Gaylord Perry 6 32 18.8%
Jim Beattie 6 26 23.1%
1983 469 20.7% 33.5 NYY (47, 29.0%) (25, 15.4%) Jim Beattie 8 29 27.6%
1984 398 17.5% 28.4 BAL (48, 29.6%) (26, 16.0%) Jim Beattie 12 32 37.5%
1985 360 15.9% 25.7 MIN (41, 25.3%) (23, 14.2%) Mike Moore 14 34 41.2%
1986 355 15.7% 25.4 MIN (39, 24.1%) (33, 20.4%) Mike Moore 11 37 29.7%
1987 372 16.4% 26.6 BOS (47, 29.0%) (39, 24.1%) Mark Langston 14 35 40.0%
1988 352 15.6% 25.1 TEX (41, 25.5%) (28, 17.4%) Mark Langston 9 35 25.7%
Mike Moore 9 32 28.1%
1989 265 11.7% 18.9 ANA (32, 19.8%) (15, 9.3%) Brian Holman 6 22 27.3%
1990 229 10.1% 16.4 TEX (25, 15.4%) (21, 13.0%) Matt Young 7 33 21.2%
1991 216 9.5% 15.4 CHW (28, 17.3%) (10, 6.2%) Brian Holman 5 30 16.7%
1992 242 10.7% 17.3 ANA (26, 16.0%) (21, 13.0%) Dave Fleming 7 33 21.2%
1993 209 9.2% 14.9 tie (26, 16.0%) (22, 13.6%) Randy Johnson 10 34 29.4%
1994 153 9.6% 10.9 CLE (17, 15.0%) (13, 11.6%) Randy Johnson 9 23 39.1%
1995 151 7.5% 10.8 BAL (19, 13.2%) (9, 6.2%) Randy Johnson 6 30 20.0%
1996 163 7.2% 11.6 tie (19, 11.7%) (4, 2.5%) Bob Wolcott 1 28 3.6%
Matt Wagner 1 14 7.1%
Bob Wells 1 16 6.3%
Salomon Torres 1 7 14.3%
1997 123 5.4% 8.8 TOR (19, 11.7%) (9, 5.6%) Randy Johnson 5 29 17.2%
1998 141 6.2% 10.1 NYY (22, 13.6%) (17, 10.6%) Jeff Fassero 7 32 21.9%
1999 108 4.8% 7.7 BAL (17, 10.5%) (7, 4.3%) Jamie Moyer 4 32 12.5%
2000 107 4.7% 7.6 TOR (15, 9.3%) (4, 2.5%) Aaron Sele 2 34 5.9%
2001 103 4.5% 7.4 DET (16, 9.9%) (8, 4.9%) Freddy Garcia 4 34 11.8%
2002 115 5.1% 8.2 tie (12, 7.4%) (8, 4.9%) Jamie Moyer 4 34 11.8%
2003 110 4.8% 7.9 OAK (16, 9.9%) (8, 4.9%) Joel Pineiro 3 32 9.4%
2004 79 3.5% 5.6 OAK (10, 6.2%) (7, 4.3%) Ryan Franklin 2 32 6.3%
2005 85 3.7% 6.1 tie (9, 5.6%) (6, 3.7%) Ryan Franklin 2 30 6.7%
Joel Pineiro 2 30 6.7%
2006 66 2.9% 4.7 CLE (13, 8.0%) (6, 3.7%) Felix Hernandez 2 31 6.5%
Jamie Moyer 2 25 8.0%
The first three columns show the number of complete games pitched per year in the American League, the percentage of complete games overall, and the average expected number of games per team (ie, the number of complete games divided by 14 teams). The next column shows the team with the most complete games for that year (and the percentage), the next column is Seattle's number of complete games and percentage for that year, and the last part is who led the Mariners in complete games each year, with how many complete games they pitched, how many starts they had total, and the percentage of starts that they pitched complete games in.
I just thought it was kind of interesting that 15 years ago or so, 10 complete games by a pitcher would lead the Mariners, and now 10 complete games by a team would probably lead the American League. Compare that to 1980 and 1981, where the Oakland A's rotation (Langford, Norris, McCatty, Keough, Kingman) pitched complete games in over half of the games the team played!
It's also kind of funny that the Mariners twice had a 43-year-old pitcher tie for the CG team leader, with Perry in 1982 and Moyer in 2006.
In case anyone's wondering, now that Roger Clemens decided to keep playing (I hope you've all heard that by now), he's the active leader in career complete games with 118. Greg Maddux is the only other one over a hundred, with 108. (Randy Johnson clocks in at 98 after that, Schilling at 82, and Mussina at 57.)
Also, there have already been 33 complete games pitched in Japan this season so far, spread among 12 teams. Compare that with the 16 complete games pitched in the MLB this season so far, spread among 30 teams...
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