With the MLB regular season coming to an end on Sunday, the league has hit an unexpected milestone. 2025 marks the first time in 20 years that there were zero no-hitters recorded in the regular season.
The last time the league had no no-no’s was two decades ago in 2005. In the past 50 years, there have been only six seasons without a no-hitter: 1982, 1985, 1989, 2000, 2005 and 2025.
It’s a bit stunning, given that there have consistently been a few pitchers achieving the feat over the past several seasons. There were four no-hitters thrown in 2024, 2023 (including a perfect game from Domingo Germán) and 2022. In 2021, a whopping nine no-no’s were thrown across the season.
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That said, plenty of pitchers got close this year. Back in June, Texas Rangers ace Jacob DeGrom took a no-hitter into the eighth inning; two days later, Cincinnati Reds pitcher Nick Martinez threw eight hitless innings before being broken up in the ninth.
In July, a no-hit bid from Seattle Mariners ace Bryan Woo was spoiled in the eighth in a tough loss to the New York Yankees. And in August, there were two more close calls: On Aug. 6, Juan Soto’s ninth-inning home run ruined a chance for the Cleveland Guardians’ Gavin Williams, and Baltimore Orioles rookie Brandon Young lost a perfect game in the eighth a week later.
Then, in September, it was bad luck for the Los Angeles Dodgers. A bid from Yoshinobu Yamamoto was broken up by a ninth-inning Jackson Holliday homer that sparked a dramatic Orioles comeback. Two days after that, Tyler Glasnow took a no-hitter into the ninth before it was broken up by the Colorado Rockies.
(There was at least a no-hitter in college baseball, from Arkansas pitcher-turned-Philadelphia Phillies draft pick Gage Wood in the Men’s College World Series.)
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Yamamoto also had a near miss with an immaculate inning, a feat even rare than a no-hitter. The Dodgers’ ace was robbed of an immaculate inning in June on a bad call. In August, Chicago Cubs pitcher Andrew Kittredge succeeded on that front, throwing the sixth immaculate inning in franchise history.
MLB teams still have a chance to make history and keep the streak alive with a no-hit bid in the postseason, but it won’t be an easy accomplishment. There have been only three postseason no-hitters in MLB history, via ESPN; the most recent was a combined no-no in 2022 by the Houston Astros, led by Cristian Javier.
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