Inside The Padres

Padres' Yu Darvish Becomes Third Pitcher in History to Achieve Historic Feat

Congrats to Darvish on the incredible accomplishment!

Matt Levine

In this story:

The San Diego Padres entered their four-game weekend series against the Atlanta Braves with some questions but have since emerged as the winners, taking the first three games. Within this success, Padres starting pitcher Yu Darvish joined some elite company on Sunday by picking up his 200th career win between MLB and Nippon Professional Baseball.

He becomes only the third pitcher in history to achieve this feat, joining Hiroki Kuroda, who has 203 wins, and Hideo Nomo, who has 201. Darvish will likely pass both men in wins at some point this season.

It's an exclusive club that Darvish joined and is truly a great honor for him. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune broke down how special it is.

"To receive the honor of being in the Meikyukai, a player must have 200 wins or 2,000 hits in Japan and/or the United States. There are just 41 position players and 17 pitchers in the club, which involves being bestowed a green jacket much like the Masters."

However, Darvish wasn't in a celebratory mood after reaching the feat. Acee said that he went to congratulate the right-hander but he wasn't having it.

"Not yet," Darvish said. "I want to wait until I retire.”

Darvish may not want to celebrate the accomplishment but it's special nonetheless. It's a testament to how successful he has been over the course of his career, and the impact he has made across two different professional baseball leagues.

Published
Matt Levine
MATT LEVINE

Matt earned a Master of Science degree in Sport Management from Louisiana State University in 2021. He was born and raised in the Los Angeles area, covering all Southern California sports in his career.

Home/San Diego Padres News