Category Archives: Streaks

May 18, 2025

Twins Fall

The Twins winning streak ends at 13 games as the Brewers win Sunday afternoon 5-2. Jackson Chourio caught a potential game tying home run by Royce Lewis in the eighth inning. Minnesota did set a team record:

Frelick singled home Christian Yelich in the second. That snapped Minnesota’s string of 34 straight shutout innings, a Twins record.
ESPN.com

The Twins rose to second place in the division, now five games behind the Tigers. Detroit beat Toronto 3-2 on Sunday to extend their lead in the AL Central.

May 14, 2025

Twins to Ten

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The Twins sweep the Orioles in a doubleheader to extend their winning streak to ten games. They outscored their opponents 54 to 29 in that time.

Unfortunately, Minnesota only gained three games in the standings, and still sits in fourth place as of 9 PM. If you take a longer look, the Twins own a 15-5 record in their last 20 games, but so do the Royals, who are in progress at the moment and winning 2-0 over Houston. The Tigers went 14-5 in that span, and are tied at five with the Red Sox late in that game. So while the Twins are playing well, so is most of the division. Even the Guardians are 11-9 in that stretch.

I liked the Twins in the AL Central coming into the season, and it’s nice to see they are finally playing up to that potential.

April 4, 2025

Great Pitching

The Reds are the first team since 1960 and only the second team since 1920 to lose three games in a row 1-0. The Reds starting pitchers in those three games were rather impressive, but each came away with a loss. Note that the first two games came in Cincinnati, where home runs tend to be easy. There’s been a complete lack of offense, no one is hot.

October 14, 2024

Streak Over

Francisco Lindor of the Mets hits the eighth pitch of the first plate appearance of the game down the rightfield line into the seats to end the Dodgers scoreless inning streak and give the Mets a 1-0 lead in game two of the NLCS. That’s Lindor’s second home run of the post season.

Ryan Brasier of the Dodgers, making his second open of the playoffs, gave up the homer.

August 6, 2024

White Sox Watch

The Athletics beat the White Sox 5-1 on Monday night, Chicago tying the AL record of 21 consecutive losses. Their winning percentage on the season drops to .235. That is below the .250 winning percentage of the 1962 Mets, the modern record for mediocrity. Time to update the probability of them finishing with no more than 40 wins.

They need to go 13-34 the rest of the way to beat the Mets. The lowest winning percentage that doesn’t include 26 wins in the 95 percent confidence interval for 115 games is .314. The probability of no more than 13 wins at that level is 0.35. For replacement level of .296, the probability stands at 0.46. So the White Sox right now have about a 35% to 46% chance of finishing with no more than 40 wins. The probabilities rate of change is slowing, but the two probabilities are also converging. At the high end of the probabilities, it’s almost 50-50 that they get no more than 40 wins on the season. Chicago also suffered a 14-game losing streak in 2024.

If you are looking for a more optimistic view, the White Sox are -4 by the Pythagorean Won-Loss percentage. That would put their 95 percentage confidence interval probability at .352, which reduces their probability of finishing with no more than 40 wins to 0.18. That’s still close to one in five.

August 4, 2024

White Sox Watch

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The White Sox scored seven runs on Sunday afternoon, but lost to the Twins 13-7. That drops Chicago’s winning percentage to .237. That is below the .250 winning percentage of the 1962 Mets, the modern record for mediocrity. Time to update the probability of them finishing with no more than 40 wins.

They need to go 13-35 the rest of the way to beat the Mets. The lowest winning percentage that doesn’t include 26 wins in the 95 percent confidence interval for 114 games is .317. The probability of no more than 13 wins at that level is 0.30. For replacement level of .296, the probability stands at 0.42. So the White Sox right now have about a 30% to 42% chance of finishing with no more than 40 wins. The probabilities rate of change is slowing, but the two probabilities are also converging They are looking at about a one if four chance of no more than 40 wins on the season. They have now lost 20 in a row. One more loss ties the modern AL losing streak record of the 1988 Orioles. Chicago also suffered a 14-game losing streak this season.

If you are looking for a more optimistic view, the White Sox are -2 by the Pythagorean Won-Loss percentage. That would put their 95 percentage confidence interval probability at .336, which reduces their probability of finishing with no more than 40 wins to 0.21. That’s still one in five.

Correction: 21 games is the AL record.

August 3, 2024

White Sox Watch

The Twins beat the White Sox 10-2 Friday night to drop Chicago’s winning percentage to .241. That is below the .250 winning percentage of the 1962 Mets, the modern record for mediocrity. Time to update the probability of them finishing with no more than 40 wins.

They need to go 13-37 the rest of the way to beat the Mets. The lowest winning percentage that doesn’t include 26 wins in the 95 percent confidence interval for 112 games is .322. The probability of no more than 13 wins at that level is 0.22. For replacement level of .296, the probability stands at 0.35. So the White Sox right now have about a 22% to 35% chance of finishing with no more than 40 wins. The probabilities rate of change is slowing, but the two probabilities are also converging They are looking at about a one if four change of no more than 40 wins on the season. They have now lost 18 in a row. Chicago also suffered a 14-game losing streak this season.

If you are looking for a more optimistic view, the White Sox are -4 by the Pythagorean Won-Loss percentage. That would put their 95 percentage confidence interval probability at .360, which reduces their probability of finishing with no more than 40 wins at 0.09.

June 30, 2024

Reynolds Wrapped

Bryan Reynolds wrapped up his 25 game hit streak today with an 0 four 4 in a 4-2 win over the Braves. Reynolds was on deck when Connor Joe made the final out for the Pirates in the top of the ninth inning. Unfortunately, Reynolds’ hot streak did not help the team all that much, as the Pirates wound up 13-12 during the streak which started on June 1, (and 14-12) for the month of June.

May 20, 2024

Six for Devers

Rafael Devers of the Boston Red Sox hit a home run against the Rays in the fourth inning, giving him home runs in six straight games. That is the Red Sox record for homering in consecutive games. He also has a single and two walks in that stretch. Boston leads the game in Tampa Bay 5-0 in the bottom of the eighth inning.

May 1, 2024

Ten for the Twins

The Twins beat the White Sox 10-5 on Wednesday afternoon to extend their winning streak to ten games. They are now 17-13 on the season. Willi Castro was a home run short of the cycle.

It may be one of the least impressive ten-game win streaks of all time. Seven of the wins came against the White Sox, now 6-25 on the season. The other three against the Angels, 11-20 on the season.

The next few series will test if Minnesota turned the corner. They start off hosting Boston and Seattle, two of the best teams in the AL in preventing runs. Then they face Toronto, the Yankees, and Cleveland. If they come out of that stretch with a winning record, this may turn out to be a good year for the team afterall.

April 16, 2024

Games of the Day

The Giants continue their series at the Marlins with Jordan Hicks against Ryan Weathers. So far, the conversion of Hicks from a reliever to a starter worked well. He pitched eighteen innings in three starts with 1.00 ERA. His strikeout rate is way down, but so is his walk rate. Weathers allowed a .369 OBP so far this season, but the opposition is slugging just .352 against him, so those base runners don’t move very far.

Carlos Rodon faces Yusei Kikuchi as the Yankees and Blue Jays meet under Skydome. Rodon returned to form with a 2.87 ERA through three starts, making it a bit easier for the Yankees to absorb the Gerrit Cole injury. Kikuchi is blowing batters away with twenty strikeouts in his first 15 2/3 innings.

The Cubs play at the Diamondbacks, with rookie Michael Busch on a five-game home run streak. At high altitude in Phoenix, it’s a good day to extend the streak to six.

Dylan Cease leads the Padres against Wade Miley and the Brewers in Milwaukee. Cease comes into the game with a 2.16 ERA as he maintained his high strikeout rate while lowering his walk and home run rates to well below his career averages. Miley did not strike out a batter in his first four innings of work, but used the Milwaukee defense to allow just one hit.

Enjoy!

December 18, 2023

Avoiding Triples

An old friend asked me over the weekend if Albert Pujols set a record for consecutive games without a triple, or if he set it for the end of a career. A couple of days testing queries resulted in this spreadsheet, which list every player with a tripleless streak of at least 300 games, all streaks starting from the 1920 season on.

Pujols did not set a record in either case. His streak of 977 games without a triple is the fourth longest in the time span, and the second longest to end a career. Mark McGwire holds the record with 1389 games. He tripled on June 20, 1988, and didn’t triple again until August 2, 1999. Paul Konerko is second with 1215 games. Third, and owning the longest streak to end a career is Victor Martinez at 981 games. Pujols is fourth at 977 games. Note that I only counted games in which the hitters earned a plate appearance. I threw out games in which they did not come to the plate.

If you look at the spreadsheet, the First Triple and Last Triple columns are dates with a double header indicator at the end. (0 for a single game, 1 for the first of two, 2 for the second of two.) If the Last Triple date starts with a 2200, that indicates the streak ended with the player’s career or the streak is still active. For example, Josh Donaldson is climbing the ladder at 742 games, ranking 11th all time. If the indicator ends in a 99, that’s was the start of the player’s career.

Note that among the streaks of at least 700 games, almost all of them started in the 21st century. It’s not until the streak get below 600 that you start seeing players from the pre-division era. I am fairly confident that the top 20 is really the top 20 of all time. Triples have been in constant decline, so the streaks keep growing.

I hope you enjoy pursing the list. You’ll find all three Molina brothers and both Giambi brothers. Cecil and Prince Fielder make the list. I was surprised to see Aaron Judge with a current streak of 440, because Judge strikes me a fast. John Olerud, a great doubles hitter, didn’t seem to try to stretch those hits.

August 9, 2023

End of a Streak

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Michael Lorenzen‘s no-hitter marked the end of an era:

The last no-hitter thrown against the Nationals was David Cone‘s perfect game with the New York Yankees on July 18, 1999. The franchise had not been no-hit since moving to Washington in 2005, and had the longest active streak of any franchise without being no-hit.
ESPN.com

No mention that the team Cone no-hit was called the Expos.

June 24, 2023

Slugging In Cincinnati

The Braves and Reds combine for eight home runs as Atlanta takes the game 7-6, ending the Reds 12-game win streak. The Braves hold a large lead in home runs for the NL now 138. The Reds bring their total to 77, less than half of the Braves. Hanging with Atlanta today in long balls was a at least a moral victory for Cincinnati.

June 18, 2023

Sweeps Weekend

The Braves beat the Rockies 14-6 Sunday afternoon to complete a four-game sweep of the Rockies, a series in which the Rockies were left in the dust in every game. The Braves average ten runs a game while limiting the Rockies to an average of three. With four home runs today, the Braves increased their NL leading total to 126.

The Marlins beat the Nationals 4-2 to sweep that three-game series. Miami climbs to ten games over .500 at 41-31 and lead the NL Wild Card.

Milwaukee downs Pittsburgh 5-2, the Brewers scoring five runs in al three games of their sweep. The Brewers drop the Pirates to third place in the NL Central, 2 1/2 games back.

One half game behind the Brewers sit the Cincinnati Reds, who beat the Astros 9-7 in ten innings for the three-game sweep in Houston. The Reds won their eighth game in a row find themselves in the heat of a division race.

The Phillies down the Athletics 3-2 for a sweep in Oakland and Philadelphia’s sixth win in a row. The Braves and Phillies rank 1-2 in winning percentage in June in the majors, the Braves 13-3, the Phillies 13-4. While the Philadelphia has not gained on Atlanta, they are now spitting on the third wild card slot.

The Red Sox beat the Yankees in game one of their doubleheader, and could join the sweepstakes with a win on Sunday Night Baseball.

Update: The Giants beat the Dodgers 7-3 for a three-game sweep in Los Angeles. San Francisco moves into second place the NL West, four game behind the Diamondbacks and 1/2 game ahead of the Dodgers.

June 17, 2023

Reds At Seven

The Reds won their seventh game in a row, demolishing the Astros 10-3. Hunter Greene started and recorded the win in an unusual way for him. Greene pitched six innings, striking out just three batters. It’s just the seventh time in his 38 career starts that he struck out fewer batters than innings pitched. He went 0-5 in the previous six.

Also note that Matt McLain hit the fourth double of his career, now with 131 at bats. That would put him on a pace for 18 in 600 at bats.

Cincinnati outscored the opposition 41-23 during the streak.

June 11, 2023

Tigers Tanking

The Diamondbacks defeat the Tigers 7-5 to extend Detroit’s losing streak to nine games. The loss likely hurt a bit more than the others. Detroit took a 5-2 lead in the fourth inning, and held an advantage until the ninth, going into that inning up 5-3. The Diamondbacks then score four runs off Jason Foley, who came into the game with a 0.99 WHIP and a 1.37 ERA. Foley allowed four hits, a walk, and four runs, three earned, to take the loss and the blown save.

I heard Tigers manager A.J. Hinch talking pre-game about bringing a positive attitude to each day. It almost worked in this game.

The Diamondbacks are the fifth team in the majors to reach 40 wins.

May 27, 2023

The Opposite of Bo Derek

The Oakland Athletics became a bad 10 today with their tenth loss in a row. The Astros beat them 6-3 to drop Oakland’s record to 10-44. The highest winning percentage that would contain 10 wins in the 95% confidence interval is .314. If that is the ceiling on the team’s intrinsic winning percentage, they have a .24 probability of no more than 40 wins, giving them a worse winning percentage than the 1962 Mets. If they are really a replacement team (.296 intrinsic winning percentage), there is a 0.38 probability of that happening.

The good news came from the arm of Hogan Harris, a hero after all. He entered the game in relief of an opener and pitched five shutout innings, allowing one hit and one walk.

May 27, 2023

Athletics Futility Index

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The Oakland Athletics lost their ninth game in a row Friday night, falling to the Astros 5-2. They are now 10-43, a .189 winning percentage. The highest winning percentage that would contain ten wins in a 95% confidence interval is .319. We use that as one estimate of the intrinsic winning percentage of the team. At the low end, we use .296, replacement level (48 wins over a full season). If the A’s win no more than 40 games, they beat the futility of the 1962 Mets. At the .319 the probability of them winning no more than 30 games the rest of the season stands at 0.19. At the .296 level, the probability of stands at 0.36. Being generous, there is now about a one if five chance that Oakland finishes worse than the 1962 Mets.

Something has got to give here.

Note that they only need to play .284 the rest of the way to win 41 games.

April 14, 2023

Blue Jays End Rays

The Blue Jays beat the Rays 6-3 to end Tampa Bay’s season starting win streak at 13. Bo Bichette went five for five with two doubles to lead the offensive charge, collecting half the Toronto hits. His batting average is up to .391.

Start Jose Berrios allows one run in five innings to become the first pitcher to beat the Rays in 2023.

Rays pitchers walked seven in the game. They only walked 31 batters during the streak. As mentioned earlier, the defense let them down as well. Still, 13-1 is a great start for any team.

April 13, 2023

A Win and a Loss

The Rays beat the Red Sox 9-3 Thursday afternoon to extend their winning streak to 13 games and tie the modern record for a season starting streak. The win came at a cost, however, as starting pitcher Jeffrey Springs left with an injury:

Rays starter Jeffrey Springs left two pitches into the fourth inning with what the team said was ulnar neuritis, inflammation of the ulnar nerve that causes numbness or weakness. He was relieved after throwing a 79.8 mph changeup and an 83.5 mph pitch to Justin Turner, then looking at his hand and elbow.
ESPN.com

He is likely headed to the illjured list. He now owns a 0.56 ERA in his three starts, striking out 24 in 16 innings.

They have yet to play a good team, as all their opponents are in last place in their divisions.

April 13, 2023

Games of the Day

The Rays host the Red Sox in game four of their series as Tampa Bay tried to tie the record of most wins to open a season. Both the 1982 Braves and the 1987 Brewers won thirteen in a row. The Braves made the playoffs and the Brewers did not, so a great start is not a guarantee of success. The twelve win streak ties the record for the franchise. The game is scheduled for a 1:10 PM EST start.

Note that the Red Sox in this series showed that it is possible to shut down the Rays offense and score a high number of runs against the Rays pitching and defense. Boston just was not able to do those things in the same game.

Corey Kluber of Boston tires to end the streak with Jeffrey Springs standing in opposition. Kluber pitched poorly in his first start of 2023, but rebounded to allow one run in five innings against the Pirates. Overall his ERA stands at 6.48 as he allowed three home runs in 8 1/3 innings. Springs held the opposition scoreless in his first two starts, striking out 19 and allowing just three hits in 13 innings.

In the NL, two struggling teams send two good pitchers to the mound as Bailey Falter and the Phillies visit Nick Lodolo and the Reds. Falter issued no walks in his first 10 1/3 innings this season, and walked just 23 batters in 128 during his MLB career. Lodolo is blowing away batters early this season, striking out 21 batters in just twelve innings.

Enjoy!

April 11, 2023

Going to Eleven

The Rays beat Boston 7-2 Tuesday night, making them 11-0 on the season. They extended their team scoreless streak to 32 innings before the Red Sox scored in the sixth.

The Rays hit four home runs, bringing their season total to 29. The puts them on a pace for 427 home runs. They’ve only allowed four long balls.

April 10, 2023

A Close Win

The Rays beat the Red Sox 1-0 Monday night to extend their season opening win streak to ten games. If was the first game they won by less than four runs. It was also their third shutout in a row and four shutout of the season. The have now scored 76 runs and allowed allowed 18.

April 9, 2023

Rays Rage On

The Rays left no doubt that they would keep their winning streak alive as they down the Athletics 11-0. Tampa Bay out hit Oakland 12-1, out homered them 3-0, out walked them 7-1, and struck out seven time to Oakland’s nine. The Rays have now scored 75 runs in nine game while allowing 18. Oakland came into the day with the highest runs allowed per game, and raised it from 7.62 to 8.00.

April 8, 2023

64-18

The Rays beat the Athletics 11-0 Saturday afternoon to extend their season opening winning streak to eight games. In that time, they outscored their opponents 64-18, and won each game by at least four runs. This was the second time they outscored a team by at least ten runs.

In case you’re wondering, the Pythagorean win percentage for a team with 64 runs scored and 18 allowed is .930. That translates to a 7-1 record in eight games, so I guess the Rays have been a little lucky. 🙂

It also helps that the Rays played three of the poorest teams in the majors to start the season. No one saw the Tigers, Nationals, or Athletics as power houses coming into the season.

June 26, 2022

Another No No?

Jose Urquidy just finished six no-hit innings against the Yankees as the Astros lead 3-0. The Yankees are putting the bat on the ball with just three strikeouts, but nothing is falling for a hit. Urquidy walked three batters, but no damage so far. He threw 88 pitches. The Yankees are now up to sixteen consecutive innings without a hit. According to the broadcast, that ties the longest streak since 1961.

Update: Giancarlo Stanton ends the Yankees hit drought with a one-out home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. He hit it to straight away center to cut the score to 3-1.

June 26, 2022

No More Hits

Jose Urquidy just completed four hitless innings against the Yankees as Houston leads the game 3-0. The Yankees last recorded a hit in the eighth inning of Friday’s game, so they have now gone 14 straight innings without a hit. We’ll see if they ever get one again. 🙂

June 5, 2022

Going to Eleven

The Angels extended their losing streak to eleven game as the Phillies come back from a 5-0 deficit to win 9-7. The Angels scored three runs or fewer in eight of the eleven games. The other three were a 6-5 loss, an 11-10 loss, and the close loss today. LAnaheim now stands one game under .500 and 8 1/2 games behind the Astros in the AL West.

Update: Bill Shaikin notes the Angels have not won since the stadium deal was canceled by Anaheim. He calls it the curse of Harry Sidhu!

May 4, 2022

Going to Eleven

The Yankees defeated the Blue Jays Tuesday night to extend New York’s winning streak to eleven. As you might expect, the Yankees played well on both sides of the ball during this streak. The batters hit .284/.350/.525, knocking out twenty three home runs. Thirteen of those dingers came with men on base, as they slugged .620 in that situation. They’ve been moving runners a long distance.

Pitchers held opponents to a .238/.290/.368 slash line, although they did allow five of their seven home runs with men on base. That situation simply came up less often. The starters allowed just nine walks in 61 1/3 innings, leading to a 2.64 ERA for that group.

The first nine games came against weak competition, but winning two in a row against the AL East favorites in Toronto makes this more serious. The Yankees now lead the division by 3 1/2 games over the Blue Jays.