Top 20 pitchers of the decade

With the decade winding down, we look back at the 20 best pitchers who owned the mound during the 2010s. You can read up on the top 20 position players of the decade here.

20. Jon Lester

2010-19 Stats

Lester has gone somewhat under the radar this decade, which is surprising given his prominent place on multiple championship teams. The crafty southpaw made five All-Star teams this decade and was the runner-up for the 2016 NL Cy Young while throwing multiple 200-inning seasons an ace for the Red Sox, Cubs, and (briefly) the A's. But Lester truly left his mark on this decade in October. He posted a 0.59 ERA with 15 strikeouts in Boston's 2013 World Series win. Three years later, he was critical to the Cubs ending their 108-year championship drought, earning NLCS MVP honors before pitching effectively in the World Series.

19. Aroldis Chapman

2010-19 Stats

Over the past decade, no reliever has been more valuable than Chapman. His 19.4 WAR and 2.01 FIP lead all relief pitchers since 2010, while his 14.8 K/9, 2.23 ERA, and 18.92 WPA sit in the top five. He's been practically automatic in the ninth too, having saved 273 games in 305 chances, and he rarely allows home runs, surrendering only 27 dingers during his career. The Cuban Missile has also lived up to his nickname by recording the fastest pitch thrown in nearly every season of the Statcast era.

18. Cliff Lee

2010-19 Stats

Lee's Cy Young-winning season came in the previous decade, but he remained a dynamic pitcher into the middle of the 2010s. After starting this decade with a brilliant playoff performance for the Rangers during their run to the 2010 AL pennant, Lee rejoined the Phillies in free agency and continued his dominance as part of an epic, star-studded rotation that also featured Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay, and Roy Oswalt. The Phillies didn't post a winning record after 2011, but that was hardly Lee's fault. When healthy, he remained one of the best pitchers in baseball until injuries ended his career in 2014. It's easy to forget just how good he was.

17. Adam Wainwright

2010-19 Stats

Since the beginning of the decade, Wainwright has authored an impressive resume for the Cardinals. He's posted double-digit win totals in seven seasons, has twice finished as an NL Cy Young finalist, and has the 18th-highest WAR among qualified starters. The veteran has also gone to battle for St. Louis in countless postseason series, accumulating 88 playoff innings since 2012. Wainwright's arguably the second-greatest pitcher to put on a Cardinals uniform after Bob Gibson.

16. Kenley Jansen

2010-19 Stats

A converted catcher who only started pitching in 2009 ended this decade as a two-time Reliever of the Year and one of the finest moundsmen of the 2010s. Over the course of the decade, Jansen's 903 strikeouts led all relievers, he was one of just two pitchers to record at least 300 saves, and his WAR total - among relief hurlers - trailed only that of Aroldis Chapman. Jansen's also done it all for one team, serving as the anchor in the Dodgers' bullpen during their recent run of dominance and racking up a 2.01 ERA in the playoffs.

15. Yu Darvish

2010-19 Stats

It's been a decade of ups and downs for Darvish, but he's been fantastic overall. From 2012-14, the right-hander led baseball in K/9 among qualified starters, appeared in three straight All-Star Games, and was an annual Cy Young contender. On the flip side, he missed all of 2015 thanks to Tommy John surgery, melted down in the 2018 World Series, and was a disaster during his first campaign with the Cubs after inking a $126-million contract. Nonetheless, Darvish is one of the great strikeout artists of this past decade and, when healthy, has proven to have one of baseball's deepest and most lethal pitching arsenals.

14. Craig Kimbrel

2010-19 Stats

Over the past decade, Kimbrel has cemented his status as one of the greatest relievers of his era, leading the league in saves for four consecutive years with the Braves while earning seven All-Star appearances and the 2011 NL Rookie of the Year award. His 346 saves led all relievers in the 2010s and rank 13th on the all-time list.

13. Gerrit Cole

2010-19 Stats

Baseball's richest pitcher has also been one of the game's best. Since debuting in 2013, his 1,336 strikeouts rank seventh and his FIP ranks 10th among qualified starters. Additionally, despite pitching significantly fewer innings, he's also outperformed Madison Bumgarner, Cole Hamels, and Zack Greinke in WAR. His two seasons in Houston were his finest work. Cole averaged a league-best 13.1 strikeouts per nine with a 2.68 ERA and 2.67 FIP, twice finishing in the top five in AL Cy Young voting.

12. Madison Bumgarner

2010-19 Stats

Before joining the D-Backs last week, MadBum spent a decade as "Ol' Reliable" atop the Giants' rotation. His regular-season work is excellent, and we all know he can swing the bat a little bit, but let's be honest - he's here because of the playoffs. Bumgarner carved out one of the greatest postseason resumes in history as the ace of three World Series-winning Giants teams during the first half of the decade. He recorded a 2.11 ERA and 0.90 WHIP with 87 strikeouts and three shutouts in 16 outings while winning three rings, the 2014 NLCS and World Series MVP, and authoring one iconic Game 7 performance.

11. Cole Hamels

2010-19 Stats

Hamels may best be known for his work in the 2008 playoffs, but there was a stretch from 2010-16 where he may have been the best left-handed pitcher in baseball. During that time, Hamels tossed 200-plus innings every year while accumulating 30.3 WAR and 1,435 strikeouts. While his numbers started to decline in 2017, he hasn't been half bad in his 30s. The veteran southpaw has accumulated 6.5 WAR, recorded 27 victories, and managed to maintain a respectable 8.2 K/9 rate since 2017.

10. Felix Hernandez

2010-19 Stats

Forget about the last three seasons and remember the good times. Remember King Felix before 2016, when he ruled the pitcher's mound and made watching Mariners baseball a joy unto itself. The 2010 AL Cy Young winner was utterly dominant in his heyday, claiming two ERA titles and regularly surpassing the 230-inning mark (his 18 complete games rank fourth this decade). In 2012, he authored the 23rd - and most recent - perfect game in baseball history. His quick and sad decline in the face of injuries inflated his numbers, but Hernandez is still one of the best to ever do it, and a potential future Hall of Famer. In the King's Court, few did it better.

9. Stephen Strasburg

2010-19 Stats

Strasburg has been dominant since making his highly anticipated debut in 2010. The former No. 1 overall pick has a winning record in nearly every season of his career and ranks seventh in K/9 and FIP, 11th in strikeouts, and 16th in ERA since the beginning of the decade. The hard-throwing right-hander has also managed to accumulate the eighth-most WAR among qualified starters since 2010 despite throwing substantially fewer innings than his peers because of injuries. His postseason performance in 2019, which included a World Series MVP, was instrumental in the Nationals winning their first-ever title.

8. Corey Kluber

2010-19 Stats

The Klubot can often be overlooked when discussing the best pitchers of this decade, which is an injustice to one of the game's finest moundsmen of the past 10 years. Kluber was the glue that held Cleveland's stellar rotation together during the team's recent success, winning a pair of Cy Young awards and earning top-three finishes in two other seasons. True to his nickname as a workhorse, Kluber was a three-time league leader in both complete games and shutouts, and he threw at least 203 innings in five straight seasons while pitching over 220 frames twice. The Indians might not have won the 2016 AL pennant without Kluber's brilliant performances - many coming on short rest - following injuries to several of his fellow pitchers.

7. David Price

2010-19 Stats

From 2010-15, Price was an annual Cy Young front-runner, taking home the award once and nearly winning three in total. During that stretch, the workhorse lefty logged close to 1,300 innings, authored a 2.97 ERA, and accumulated 29.7 WAR. Although Price hasn't been the same pitcher since signing with the Red Sox, he remains one of baseball's most feared southpaws. He also finally exorcised his career-long playoff demons in 2018 during Boston's march to a World Series title.

6. Jacob deGrom

2010-19 Stats

Amid all the drama surrounding the Mets on a near-daily basis, the one constant has been deGrom. Over the past two seasons, he's morphed from an under-the-radar ace into a true superstar, winning the last two NL Cy Young awards in decisive fashion. His first Cy came after one of the most dominant campaigns in recent history, as he recorded a 1.70 ERA, 1.98 FIP, and 269 strikeouts in 2018. With his help, the Mets made the playoffs twice and won a pennant during this decade, and it's hard to fathom where they might be right now without him. If deGrom was able to do all that and still only end up as the sixth-best pitcher of the 2010s, who knows where he'll wind up on the next all-decade list.

5. Zack Greinke

2010-19 Stats

After winning an AL Cy Young to conclude the last decade, the past 10 years have been good to Greinke. The cerebral assassin converted himself into one of baseball's most clever hurlers, which has kept him among pitching's elite this late into his career. Greinke, who's as studious as they come, is also an excellent player in other non-pitching aspects of the game. He's won six Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers, and owns a career slash line of .225/.263/.337 with nine homers, which is about as good as it gets for a pitcher.

4. Chris Sale

2010-19 Stats

A lanky left-hander who plays by his own rules, Sale is one of only four hurlers to have recorded 2,000 strikeouts this decade. Indeed, punchouts are Sale's calling card, as his seven 200-strikeout seasons - done consecutively - are the most by an American League pitcher over the last 10 years. In four of those campaigns, Sale eclipsed the 230-punchout mark - including his stunning 308-strikeout season in 2017 - and was a two-time league leader in the category. Sale is also baseball's all-time leader in strikeout-to-walk percentage at 25.3%. And, perhaps most incredibly, he did all of this after beginning his career as a reliever. Though he's never won a Cy Young, he's received votes in seven of his 10 seasons and was the runner-up in '17.

3. Justin Verlander

2010-19 Stats

Verlander is the definition of an old-school power pitcher. He's this generation's Nolan Ryan and a future first-ballot Hall of Famer. Since 2010, the hard-throwing right-hander has recorded two of his three career no-hitters, joined the 3,000 strikeout club, taken home pitching's Triple Crown, won an ALCS MVP, earned two Cy Youngs, and became a World Series champion in 2017. There isn't much left to do for the ageless wonder, who's fresh off one of the finest campaigns of his career at 36 years old, but he continues to make things look too easy every fifth day.

2. Max Scherzer

2010-19 Stats

When hitters catch a glance of that intense stare, they begin to quake in their cleats. Mad Max won three Cy Young awards this decade - one with Detroit and two more in D.C. - and has been a finalist for the honor in each of the last four years. He's a four-time league leader in wins and WHIP, three-time leader in both strikeouts and Ks per nine, and two-time leader in innings pitched. From 2014-18, he struck out at least 250 batters every year, including 300 in 2018. His active streak of eight straight 200-strikeout seasons is the second-most in history, trailing only Tom Seaver's nine. Oh, also, he threw two no-hitters in 2015 and was the ace of a World Series champion last season. Scherzer is unquestionably one of this decade's top-three pitchers, and his work during the 2010s also ensures he'll go down as one of the most dominant strikeout artists of all time.

1. Clayton Kershaw

2010-19 Stats

It was a decade of dominance for Kershaw, who tops this list thanks to an unmatched 10-year stretch. The Dodgers ace led all pitchers with 59.1 WAR, had the lowest ERA (2.31) of any starter, won pitching's Triple Crown in 2011, and secured three Cy Youngs and an MVP. Since 2010, the lefty also has five ERA titles on his resume and he's struck out 200-plus hitters seven times, including a 301-punchout effort in 2015. The one thing missing from Kershaw's expansive list of accomplishments is a World Series title, which has eluded him his entire career.