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Strikeouts title holders, 2000–2025

The league leader in strikeouts for each season, Central League and Pacific League. Ties for first are shown with every player listed (4 seasons/leagues had a tie). For background on the leagues, see the posting system.

Strikeouts leaders by season, Central and Pacific Leagues, 2000–2025
Season	Central League leader	CL team	CL K	Pacific League leader	PL team	PL K
2000	Kazuhisa Ishii	Yakult Swallows	210	Daisuke Matsuzaka	Seibu Lions	144
2001	Shigeki Noguchi	Chunichi Dragons	187	Daisuke Matsuzaka	Seibu Lions	214
2002	Kei Igawa	Hanshin Tigers	206	Jeremy Powell	Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes	182
2003	Koji Uehara	Yomiuri Giants	194	Daisuke Matsuzaka	Seibu Lions	215
2004	Kei Igawa	Hanshin Tigers	228	Nagisa Arakaki	Fukuoka Daiei Hawks	177
2005	Ken Kadokura Daisuke Miura	Yokohama BayStars	177	Daisuke Matsuzaka	Seibu Lions	226
2006	Kei Igawa Kenshin Kawakami	Hanshin Tigers Chunichi Dragons	194	Kazumi Saito	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	205
2007	Tetsuya Utsumi	Yomiuri Giants	180	Yu Darvish	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	210
2008	Colby Lewis	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	183	Toshiya Sugiuchi	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	213
2009	Colby Lewis	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	186	Toshiya Sugiuchi	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	204
2010	Kenta Maeda	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	174	Yu Darvish	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	222
2011	Kenta Maeda	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	192	Yu Darvish	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	276
2012	Toshiya Sugiuchi Atsushi Nomi	Yomiuri Giants Hanshin Tigers	172	Masahiro Tanaka	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	169
2013	Randy Messenger	Hanshin Tigers	183	Chihiro Kaneko	Orix Buffaloes	200
2014	Randy Messenger	Hanshin Tigers	226	Takahiro Norimoto	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	204
2015	Shintaro Fujinami	Hanshin Tigers	221	Takahiro Norimoto	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	215
2016	Tomoyuki Sugano	Yomiuri Giants	189	Takahiro Norimoto	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	216
2017	Miles Mikolas	Yomiuri Giants	187	Takahiro Norimoto	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	222
2018	Tomoyuki Sugano	Yomiuri Giants	200	Takahiro Norimoto	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	187
2019	Shun Yamaguchi	Yomiuri Giants	188	Kodai Senga	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	227
2020	Yūdai Ōno	Chunichi Dragons	148	Yoshinobu Yamamoto Kodai Senga	Orix Buffaloes Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	149
2021	Yūya Yanagi	Chunichi Dragons	168	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	Orix Buffaloes	206
2022	Shosei Togo	Yomiuri Giants	154	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	Orix Buffaloes	205
2023	Shota Imanaga	Yokohama DeNA BayStars	174	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	Orix Buffaloes	169
2024	Shosei Togo	Yomiuri Giants	156	Tatsuya Imai	Saitama Seibu Lions	187
2025	Shoki Murakami	Hanshin Tigers	144	Hiromi Itoh	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	195

Other titles: Batting average · Home runs · Runs batted in · Stolen bases · Wins · Earned run average · Strikeouts