List of Major League Baseball annual shutout leaders
Year Player ( s ) Team ( s ) Shutouts
1871 Albert Spalding * Bobby Mathews Cherokee Fisher Rynie Wolters Boston Red Stockings Fort Wayne Kekiongas Rockford Forest Citys New York Mutuals 1
1872 Albert Spalding * Candy Cummings * Boston Red Stockings New York Mutuals 3
1873 Dick McBride Philadelphia Athletics 3
1874 Albert Spalding * Bobby Mathews Boston Red Stockings New York Mutuals 4
1875 Albert Spalding * Candy Cummings * George Zettlein Boston Red Stockings Hartford Dark Blues Chicago / Philadelphia 7
National Association
Albert Spalding of the Boston Red Stockings tied the National Association leaders in shutouts during four of the league 's five seasons .
The following is a list of annual leaders in shutouts in Major League Baseball (MLB). A shutout occurs when a single pitcher throws a complete game and does not allow the opposing team to score a single run. Walter Johnson holds the career shutout record with 110. The most shutouts pitched in one season was 16, which was a feat accomplished by both Pete Alexander (1916) and George Bradley (1876). In the dead-ball era and throughout much of the first three-quarters of the twentieth century, starting pitchers were generally expected to perform complete games, and starting pitchers would throw dozens of complete games a year  -  thereby increasing a pitcher's chances of achieving a shutout. These shutout records are among the most secure records in baseball, as pitchers today rarely earn more than one or two shutouts per season with the heavy emphasis on pitch counts and relief pitching. Pitchers today will often pitch only a few, if any, complete games a season. The 2018 season marked a new low for complete-game shutouts; no pitcher threw for more than one shutout during the season, with eleven American League and seven National League pitchers finishing with only one shutout that season.