Every season is another chance for MLB’s talented players to show us all that they can accomplish. Entering the year, it’s always fun to anticipate which career milestones might be reached or surpassed in the upcoming round of 162 games. But over the course of the season, there are also single-season marks broken that we wouldn’t have even seen coming.
Here’s a look back at 10 individuals who reached milestones in the 2025 season.
Strider entered the season with 495 K’s in his career in just 329 2/3 innings, putting him on track to not just reach the milestone, but get there in fewer innings than any other pitcher who started in at least 50% of his appearances by the time of his 500th strikeout, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. On April 16, in his first outing of the season, he did exactly that in the fifth inning, getting there in 334 career innings. That surpassed Freddy Peralta’s 372 innings for the fewest among primary starters.
Soto’s 769 career walks entering the season were the most in MLB history for a player before turning 26 and the second most before turning 27, behind Mickey Mantle’s 797. Soto was 29 walks from breaking the pre-27 record and he’d yet to even play a regular-season game as a 26-year-old.
On May 6, Soto drew his 797th and 798th career walks, setting the mark for the most before turning 27 with plenty of the season left. So what did he do? He ended up setting the record for most before turning 28, too, before he even turned 27 himself. That mark had also belonged to Mantle (at 892 walks) until Soto drew his 893rd on Sept. 23. Soto ended the year with 896 walks, the most before turning 27 and the starting point as he prepares to add to the pre-28 record in 2026.
Ohtani entered the season with 225 home runs. On June 14, he hit a leadoff home run for No. 249, then hit his 250th in the sixth inning. At the time, he also had 156 career stolen bases. Ohtani reached 250 homers and 150 stolen bases in 944 career games, the fewest of any player in MLB history, surpassing Alex Rodriguez (977 games). And Ohtani had only actually batted in 928 of his games at that point, because he didn’t hit in pitching starts early in his career. He still set the mark handily.
Olson played his 700th consecutive game on June 26, a streak that dates back to May 2, 2021. He ended the season at 782, a streak he will carry into ‘26 as the 12th-longest in MLB history. The only other streaks of at least 700 consecutive games to begin in the divisional era (1969) belong to, of course, Cal Ripken Jr. (2,632 games; 1982-98), Steve Garvey (1,207; 1975-83), Miguel Tejada (1,152; 2000-07), Pete Rose (745; 1978-83) and Dale Murphy (740; 1981-86).
The certain Hall of Famer entered the season with 2,968 career strikeouts. He reached 3,000 with the final out of the sixth inning on July 2. The 3,000 mark is certainly elite territory: Of the 20 pitchers to reach it, the only ones not in the Hall of Fame are Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling, plus Kershaw, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, who are not yet eligible. Kershaw joined Walter Johnson (Senators) and Bob Gibson (Cardinals) as the only pitchers with 3,000 or more career strikeouts all for one team.
Judge entered the season with 315 career home runs in 993 games, the most in MLB since his debut season of 2016. He reached 300 homers in 2024 in 955 games, the fewest in MLB history, so we were ready for him to set the same record for 350. And that he did on July 12, hitting No. 350 in career game No. 1,088. That’s by far the fewest career games to 350, besting Mark McGwire’s 1,280.
Alonso entered the year third on the Mets’ all-time home run list with 226, behind only Darryl Strawberry (252) and David Wright (242). He hit No. 253 on Aug. 12 to become the franchise’s leader in career home runs. He ended the season — and his Mets tenure, after signing with the Orioles — with 264. The only other active players who lead a franchise all-time in homers, regardless of whether they are currently on that team, are Mike Trout (Angels), Giancarlo Stanton (Marlins) and Manny Machado (Padres).
Verlander entered the season 10th all-time with 3,416 strikeouts. He reached 3,500 on Aug. 10, tied Walter Johnson for ninth at 3,515 on Aug. 21 and passed Johnson on Aug. 26. Next up was Gaylord Perry, in eighth, with 3,534. Verlander passed him on Sept. 6 and ended the season with 3,553 strikeouts.
Trout began the season with 378 career home runs, on the verge of becoming the 59th player in MLB history with at least 400. He hit No. 400 on Sept. 20, becoming the 15th player with at least 400 home runs and 200 stolen bases. If we take it one step further, the 34-year-old Trout was just the seventh player with at least 400 home runs and 200 stolen bases before turning 35, joining Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Barry Bonds and Reggie Jackson.
Here’s one we didn’t know we’d be counting down to as 2025 began, but it became apparent early on. Entering the season, the most home runs in a season for a catcher playing that position in the game was 42, by Javy Lopez in 2003. Raleigh hit 49 as catcher to set that record, and another 11 while serving as DH. The previous most for a primary catcher (min. 50% of games there) was 48 by Salvador Perez in 2021, so Raleigh’s 60 home runs set that mark and then some. And, of course, he’s also a switch-hitter. The prior single-season homer record for switch-hitters was 54, by Mickey Mantle in 1961.
