Nolan Ryan has the most strikeouts in MLB history with 5,714 tallied across 27 seasons. He played for the New York Mets, Houston Astros, the then-California Angels and Texas Rangers. Here's the list of the pitchers above 3,000 strikeouts in chronological order (year achieved in parentheses):

For example, Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal is in the middle of a Kershaw-like run of dominance, having won the 2024 Cy Young and carrying his team to within a game of the American League Championship Series last year. But Skubal is already 28 and has 786 strikeouts.