Chasing Perfection: How Rare is a Perfect Game in Baseball?
Let’s be honest — baseball isn’t a sport that naturally lends itself to perfection. Rather, it’s a scrappy game played by gritty players in quirky ballparks that vary wildly in dimensions and characteristics.
In this all-American pastime, batters are statistically more likely to record an out than reach base. At the same time, pitchers strive for unpredictability, often throwing “slop” in hopes batters chase pitches outside the zone.
On the base paths, teams steal bases, bunt for hits, and sacrifice outs to advance runners — all calculated risks that trade perfection for the greater goal of scoring runs.
Baseball is a game defined by strategy, imperfection, and moments of brilliance arising from calculated chaos. And yet, in this messy, unpredictable sport, the perfect game stands as a shimmering paradox: 27 up, 27 down, no baserunners, no mistakes, and no room for error.
How Rare is a Perfect Game in MLB History?
The perfect game in baseball is one of the rarest and most celebrated accomplishments in all of sports.
In over 150 years of Major League Baseball spanning more than 238,000 games, only 24 perfect games have ever been recorded — the latest, a 99-pitch gem in 2023 by Domingo Germán of the Yankees.
In nine innings pitched, Germán — like in the 23 perfect games thrown before his — retired all 27 batters he faced without allowing a single baserunner. To achieve this required him to pitch a complete game without him or the team recording so much as a walk, a hit batter, an error, a passed ball on a third strike … anything that would have allowed a batter to reach base.
Prior to Germán’s performance, a “perfecto” hadn’t been thrown in the Majors since 2012, which speaks to its rarity. This ultimate display of baseball dominance requires a combination of skill, precision, and a bit of luck, with every pitch, swing, call, and defensive play ultimately contributing toward the milestone.
In other words, the path to perfection is fragile, hinging on several factors — some of which have nothing to do with the pitcher — that must align in harmony. Hence, a perfect game only occurs about once every 10,000 games.
What does it take for a Major League-level pitcher to achieve this remarkable feat? Let’s unravel the elements that must align for perfection in the most imperfect sport.
What Makes an MLB Pitcher Capable of a Perfect Game?
Perfect games start and end on the pitcher’s mound. To pull off this rarest of feats, a pitcher must be locked in, throwing pitches that make hitters look lost and putting together nine innings of absolute dominance.
It’s not just about strikeouts, though plenty of those often happen along the way. He has to be efficient, which means keeping his pitch count low enough to finish the job without forcing the manager’s hand.
Source: Baseball Hall Of Fame
Efficiency is the secret sauce. A perfect game pitcher isn’t likely trying to strike out every batter. Instead, he’s pounding the zone, forcing weak contact, and letting his defense make the routine plays. A grounder to short, a pop fly to center — those are the outs that keep him in control while keeping the pitch count in check.
Addie Joss’s perfect game performance in 1908, for example, was a picture of efficiency. When he threw his perfect game for the Cleveland Naps, he needed just 74 pitches to retire 27 straight batters.
Joss was far from overpowering, striking out just three batters the entire game. His success came from pinpoint control and trust in the team’s defense, which overcame a bobbled ground ball and a low throw to record the game’s final out.
In contrast, both Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers (1965) and Matt Cain of the Giants (2012) were more conventionally dominant, tying for the most strikeouts in a perfect game with 14 each.
The Defense Must Be Flawless
While the pitcher might be the star of the show, he’s not out there alone. Behind every perfect game performance from the mound is a defense that does its job — flawlessly.
When a pitcher is on, he’s keeping hitters off-balance and generating weak contact, but even grounders and popups still need to turn into outs. That means the defense must make every routine play with precision. Routine plays might not make highlight reels, but in a perfect game, they’re essential.
A bobbled ball at short or a fly ball lost in the sun can mean the end of a perfect game run — hardly a tragedy, but certainly a missed opportunity at making history.
Sometimes, though, a defense doesn’t just have to be flawless; it must be spectacular. Take DeWayne Wise’s legendary catch during Mark Buehrle’s perfect game in 2009, the 18th perfect game in Major League history.
Source: The Ledger
Buehrle had already retired 24 straight batters when Gabe Kapler stepped to the plate in the ninth inning and crushed a ball deep to center field. It looked like a sure home run … until Wise, a defensive replacement, sprinted back to the wall, leaped to full extension, and robbed Kapler of a dinger.
He even juggled the ball briefly but managed to secure it as he hit the ground. That catch didn’t just preserve the perfect game; it cemented Wise’s place in baseball history.
Plays like Wise’s are rare, but they’re often the difference between a perfect game and just another great outing. They also highlight that perfection isn’t just about the pitcher; it’s a true team effort.
Umpires Must Call a Clean (and Favorable) Game
The role of umpires in a perfect game cannot be overlooked. While the advent of instant replay has minimized this impact on the base paths, umpires still play a key role when it comes to a pitcher’s ability to be dominant.
For example, a tight or inconsistent strike zone can kill any attempt at a perfect game. When umpires “squeeze the zone,” calling fewer borderline strikes, it can disrupt a pitcher’s game plan while giving batters a slight advantage.
Knowing they don’t have to protect as much, hitters become more patient at the plate, driving up pitch counts and increasing the likelihood of walks. And if the pitcher has to venture further into the zone to avoid free passes, it opens the door for harder contact.
Long story short, umpires who call a tight strike zone can turn an otherwise dominant performance into an uphill battle for pitchers. Base umpires have a little less impact when it comes to perfect games, however — at least since replay challenges were instituted in 2014.
Source: Tampa Bay Times
One impetus for the use of these challenges occurred in 2010 when pitcher Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers came one out short of a perfect game.
Galarraga had retired 26 straight batters when Cleveland’s Jason Donald hit a ground ball to first base. Galarraga covered the bag and caught the toss for what appeared to be the 27th out, but first-base umpire Jim Joyce called Donald safe.
While replays showed Donald was clearly out, the call stood, ending Galarraga’s bid for a perfect game.
Such instances demonstrate that in a perfect game, pitching, defense, and yes, even umpiring must contribute toward the effort. A clean, consistent game from the men in blue can be the difference between perfection and frustration.
The Pitcher Must Have Run Support
This might seem like a no-brainer, but a pitcher chasing perfection must have run support from his own team. Any run support. Just one run will do.
As we all know, baseball games don’t end in ties, which means someone has to score eventually. If the pitcher’s team isn’t pulling its weight offensively, a perfect game can stretch into extra innings — or worse, slip away entirely.
No story illustrates this cruel truth better than Harvey Haddix’s infamous outing on in 1959.
Pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Haddix delivered nine innings of perfect baseball against the Milwaukee Braves, and he did it on just 78 pitches. But as the Pirates hadn’t scored a run of their own, it wasn’t enough.
So, Haddix went back out and threw a perfect 10th inning, then another perfect inning in the 11th. By the end of 12, he had retired all 36 batters he faced to that point, a historic feat of dominance and endurance.
But, Pittsburgh still hadn’t scored a run, and Haddix’s luck was about to run out.
The Pirates committed an error to start the bottom of the 13th inning, ending Haddix’s bid for the longest perfect game ever pitched. Three batters later, Milwaukee’s Joe Adcock recorded the Braves’ only hit of the night, driving in an unearned run for the walk-off win.
So after pitching perhaps the most dominant 12 innings in Major League history, Haddix lost his bid for both a perfect game and a no-hitter in the final frame, then walked away with the official loss.
Such heartbreak underscores how, in baseball, perfection is fragile, fleeting, and sometimes just not enough.
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