Longest win streak to start a season
Posted by Andy on May 6, 2009
The full list since 1954 is below. This has already been posted recently, but Zack Greinke has moved up with his streak of 6. This is most consecutive starts won at the beginning of a season (it ignores any relief appearances.)
Brandon Webb rung off 9 in a row last year. Plus you might remember Josh Beckett winning 7 in a row in 2007 and Cliff Lee winning 6 in a row last year. Greinke has really good numbers so far compared to any of these guys and I would love to see him break the record, as unlikely as that is.
StreakStart Streak End Games W L GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA HBP WP BK Teams +-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Andy Hawkins 1985-04-12 1985-05-30 10 10 0 10 1 0 0 0 69.2 68 21 21 10 28 8 2.71 1 2 1 SDP Brandon Webb 2008-03-31 2008-05-15 9 9 0 9 1 0 0 0 63.1 46 21 18 17 49 2 2.56 1 2 0 ARI Jon Garland 2005-04-09 2005-05-17 8 8 0 8 2 2 0 0 59.2 47 16 16 10 27 3 2.41 1 0 0 CHW Pedro Martinez 1997-04-15 1997-05-23 8 8 0 8 3 1 0 0 61.1 39 11 8 11 68 3 1.17 4 1 0 MON Dave Stewart 1988-04-04 1988-05-08 8 8 0 8 2 0 0 0 63.1 49 20 17 23 33 1 2.42 1 3 11 OAK Fernando Valenzue 1981-04-09 1981-05-14 8 8 0 8 7 5 0 0 72 43 4 4 17 68 2 0.50 0 0 0 LAD Roger Moret 1973-04-22 1973-08-27 8 8 0 8 3 2 0 0 59.2 49 17 15 32 35 5 2.26 0 1 1 BOS Billy Pierce 1962-04-13 1962-06-01 8 8 0 8 3 1 0 0 63 53 25 24 12 31 7 3.43 1 1 0 SFG Josh Beckett 2007-04-04 2007-05-08 7 7 0 7 0 0 0 0 46.2 38 14 13 10 40 2 2.51 1 0 0 BOS Jered Weaver 2006-05-27 2006-07-23 7 7 0 7 0 0 0 0 47 26 7 6 11 40 2 1.15 2 0 0 LAA Dontrelle Willis 2005-04-08 2005-05-11 7 7 0 7 3 2 0 0 50 34 7 6 10 40 2 1.08 0 0 0 FLA Roger Clemens 2004-04-07 2004-05-11 7 7 0 7 0 0 0 0 45.1 29 11 10 18 52 4 1.99 1 1 0 HOU Mike Mussina 2003-04-02 2003-05-07 7 7 0 7 0 0 0 0 53 37 11 10 8 63 2 1.70 0 3 0 NYY Randy Johnson 2000-04-04 2000-05-05 7 7 0 7 4 2 0 0 58.1 31 9 6 13 75 3 0.93 0 0 0 ARI Ben McDonald 1994-04-06 1994-05-08 7 7 0 7 2 0 0 0 52.2 47 19 18 13 33 6 3.08 0 2 1 BAL Jack McDowell 1992-04-07 1992-05-10 7 7 0 7 2 0 0 0 55 42 17 17 7 33 6 2.78 2 2 0 CHW Frank Viola 1990-04-11 1990-05-12 7 7 0 7 2 2 0 0 51.2 36 5 5 6 52 1 0.87 0 0 0 NYM Rick Mahler 1985-04-09 1985-05-05 7 7 0 7 0 0 0 0 51.2 46 15 12 12 16 3 2.09 0 1 0 ATL Juan Marichal 1966-04-12 1966-05-12 7 7 0 7 6 2 0 0 59 35 7 5 6 40 3 0.76 0 0 0 SFG Bob Turley 1958-04-20 1958-05-23 7 7 0 7 7 4 0 0 63 31 7 6 30 40 4 0.86 1 1 0 NYY Zack Greinke 2009-04-08 2009-05-04 6 6 0 6 3 2 0 0 45 30 3 2 8 54 0 0.40 1 1 0 KCR Cliff Lee 2008-04-06 2008-05-07 6 6 0 6 1 1 0 0 44.2 25 5 4 2 39 1 0.81 0 1 0 CLE Kazuhisa Ishii 2002-04-06 2002-05-04 6 6 0 6 0 0 0 0 36.2 26 12 12 21 41 2 2.95 2 1 0 LAD Randy Johnson 2002-04-01 2002-04-26 6 6 0 6 2 1 0 0 46 28 8 7 11 61 2 1.37 1 0 0 ARI James Baldwin 2000-04-06 2000-05-09 6 6 0 6 1 1 0 0 42.1 31 12 11 11 28 8 2.34 0 3 0 CHW +-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ StreakStart Streak End Games W L GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA HBP WP BK Teams +-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Rick Helling 1998-04-03 1998-05-02 6 6 0 6 1 1 0 0 43 36 14 14 12 29 4 2.93 0 0 0 TEX Wilson Alvarez 1994-04-06 1994-05-04 6 6 0 6 1 0 0 0 41.2 35 13 12 18 25 5 2.59 0 0 0 CHW Bob Tewksbury 1994-04-03 1994-05-01 6 6 0 6 2 0 0 0 45.1 45 20 19 5 28 8 3.77 1 1 0 STL Roger Clemens 1991-04-08 1991-05-08 6 6 0 6 2 1 0 0 49 26 4 4 8 51 0 0.73 0 0 0 BOS Neal Heaton 1990-04-12 1990-05-12 6 6 0 6 0 0 0 0 38.1 30 11 9 8 21 2 2.11 0 3 0 PIT Dave Stewart 1990-04-09 1990-05-04 6 6 0 6 0 0 0 0 41 32 7 7 12 16 2 1.54 1 2 0 OAK Orel Hershiser 1988-04-05 1988-05-04 6 6 0 6 2 1 0 0 46.2 33 10 9 11 31 3 1.74 1 1 1 LAD Greg Swindell 1988-04-06 1988-05-02 6 6 0 6 3 1 0 0 51.2 41 13 12 6 30 3 2.09 0 0 0 CLE Dwight Gooden 1988-04-04 1988-05-01 6 6 0 6 4 2 0 0 44 36 13 11 10 33 1 2.25 1 1 2 NYM Bret Saberhagen 1987-04-10 1987-05-09 6 6 0 6 3 1 0 0 51 34 9 9 7 29 2 1.59 1 1 0 KCR Moose Haas 1986-04-10 1986-05-06 6 6 0 6 1 0 0 0 43.2 26 8 8 9 27 2 1.65 1 0 0 OAK La Marr Hoyt 1982-04-27 1982-05-24 6 6 0 6 3 0 0 0 50 43 10 8 8 27 2 1.44 0 3 0 CHW Mike Norris 1981-04-09 1981-05-05 6 6 0 6 5 0 0 0 51 33 12 12 23 28 4 2.12 4 4 2 OAK Rick Honeycutt 1980-04-12 1980-05-08 6 6 0 6 4 1 0 0 51.1 39 16 14 17 15 5 2.45 0 1 0 SEA Dick Selma 1968-05-04 1968-06-11 6 6 0 6 3 2 0 0 48 36 12 11 10 26 3 2.06 1 0 0 NYM Ron Reed 1968-04-29 1968-05-24 6 6 0 6 3 0 0 0 52 29 11 10 11 22 0 1.73 2 0 0 ATL Wally Bunker 1964-05-05 1964-06-01 6 6 0 6 3 0 0 0 46.1 28 13 12 15 17 2 2.33 0 0 0 BAL Ike Delock 1958-06-26 1958-07-20 6 6 0 6 4 0 0 0 49.1 47 15 12 15 28 3 2.19 0 2 0 BOS Whitey Ford 1956-04-20 1956-05-17 6 6 0 6 6 1 0 0 54 46 10 5 17 35 1 0.83 0 0 0 NYY Luis Arroyo 1955-04-20 1955-06-01 6 6 0 6 3 1 0 0 50.2 35 11 9 14 25 3 1.60 1 3 0 STL Jim Wilson 1954-06-06 1954-07-05 6 6 0 6 4 3 0 0 51 37 10 10 8 25 7 1.76 2 0 0 MLN
May 6th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Wow, 4 guys got off to red hot starts in 1988.
May 6th, 2009 at 9:26 am
Yeah...that was a great year for pitching. They must have deadened the ball after the 1987 debacle. The pitcher performances I'll always remember most from that year are Hershiser and Stewart.
May 6th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Fernando in 1981...
8 wins
7 complete games
5 shutouts
May 6th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Dave McNally had 26 consecutive starts (from the start of the season) in 1969 before taking his first loss, going 15-0 over that stretch.
Rick Rhoden went 19 starts without a loss to start the season in 1976 , but only went 9-0.
Roger Clemens won 14 of his first 15 starts in 1986 before taking a loss. He also won 11 of his first 12 in 1997.
And let's not forget Rube Marquard, who won his first 19 decisions in 1912 before finishing 26-11. I have no idea how many of those were starts.
May 6th, 2009 at 11:30 am
notice greinke also has the lowest era
May 6th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
How about this little modification: Consecutive games to start a season with a win and less than 2 runs allowed.
http://www.bb-ref.com/play-index/shareit/j6Tm
May 6th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
make that 2 runs or less allowed
May 7th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Fenix0505: Grienke has the lowest ERA for the entire streak thus far, but Valenzuela had a 0.33 ERA in 54 innings through the first 6 games of his streak in 1981. That included 5 complete games and 4 shutouts. In the sixth game of the streak, he pitched 9 innings, but the Dodgers won it in the top of the 10th, so Fernando got the win, but no CG despite 9 innings work. His next two starts were both complete games (including one shutout) before the streak was snapped.
Also impressive is Turley's 6 CG and 4 ShO in the first 6 games of his streak in 1958. Four earned runs in the fourth game of his streak "ballooned" his ERA - it was at 0.83 after 6 games. He also had another complete game win before his streak was broken.
This is not to belittle Grienke's great start this year, just to point out a few others that can equal it on thier own merits.
May 11th, 2009 at 6:44 am
Alas, Grienke's streak was snapped on Saturday - he lost a 1-0 pitcher's duel to Joe Saunders wherein both pitched complete games. The one earned run Zach allowed brought his ERA to 0.51, but since that game was not part of the streak, his ERA during the streak will remain the posted 0.40 - lowest of the players during their streaks. (As I posted in an earlier comment, Valenzuela's ERA was lower at an equivalent point in the streak; after 7 games, Fernando's ERA was down to 0.29 before giving up 2 ER in the final game of his streak.)