In 1975, Wood was "an early season dud," according to Sports Illustrated. In his second start of the year, with the game against the Angels tied at three after nine innings, he pitched into the 10th but lost after giving up a walk-off home run to Leroy Stanton. He was 6–13 through July 8, but he picked up shutouts in his next two starts, holding Milwaukee and Detroit to a total of five singles in the two games. The latter of the two was his third and final two-hit game. Beginning with the shutouts, Wood won his next six decisions, putting him one win away from a .500 winning percentage before he lost three games in a row from August 8 through 16. For the remainder of the year, he was 4–4 with a 4.39 ERA. In his final start of the year on September 25, he held the Athletics to five hits and two unearned runs in a complete game, 8–2 victory. Wolf wrote that he was "gradually losing some effectiveness" but "had moments of baffling dominance." He had a losing record for the first time since 1970, leading the AL with 20 losses while only winning 16 games. He failed to reach 300 innings pitched for the first time since 1970 (, fifth in the AL) but led the league in starts (43) for the fourth and final year in a row. His ERA was 4.11, and he struck out 140.
