Most Consecutive Games with a Stolen Base
Posted by Raphy on May 19, 2009
Despite having 19 base runners in last night's game (or perhaps because they had such a big lead) , the Rays did not steal a base for the first time in 3 weeks. Their steak of 19 consecutive games with a stolen base was the 4th longest by any team since 1954.
Team StreakStart Streak End Games W L AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SO BB SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Opponents -------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ STL 1985-09-04 1985-10-02 29 19 10 977 134 253 33 10 17 122 146 128 75 11 .259 .344 .365 .709 CIN,CHC,ATL,NYM,PIT,PHI,MON,PIT STL 1986-06-17 1986-07-07 20 8 12 706 71 166 30 6 8 67 125 83 45 12 .235 .317 .329 .646 PIT,PHI,NYM,SFG,LAD PIT 1981-05-20 1981-08-10 20 12 8 670 97 185 39 9 12 93 95 62 41 14 .276 .340 .415 .755 ATL,PHI,CHC,MON,SFG,SDP TBR 2009-04-28 2009-05-17 19 11 8 661 117 192 50 4 20 110 145 72 43 5 .290 .363 .469 .832 MIN,BOS,BAL,NYY,BOS,CLE
May 19th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Wow, the Cards streak in '85 really stands out. I looked it up and Vince Coleman had a SB in only 14 of the 29 games, so the rest of the team could motor, too -- five players with at least 30 SB, and Coleman had only just over 1/3 of the total for the team.
May 19th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Yeah, the St. Louis teams of the mid-1980's were classic "pitching, speed, and defense" teams - but mostly speed and defense. The Cards led the league in stolen bases every year from 1982 through 1988, and in triples from 1981 through 1983 and again in 1985. (They finished 4th in 3B in 1984, and 2nd in 1986 & 1987.)
They also finished first in fielding percentage every year from 1981 through 1989 except in 1983 (when they inexplicably finished 8th). They were one of the top two teams in the league in defensive efficiency 5 times in the decade, and lead the league in defensive zone rating four times.
Their ERA and WHIP were above league average more often than not, but they never lead the league in the major pitching averages.
With guys like Ozzie Smith, Vince Coleman, Willie McGee, Terry Pendleton, Tommy Herr, and Jack Clark (also guys like Lonnie Smith, George Hendrick, Andy Van Slyke, and Keith Hernandez for part of that era), they were the bane of many an opposing pitching staff - especially the Mets.
May 19th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
...btw, when I satated in the previous comment that "Their ERA and WHIP were above the league average more often than not...", I meant "...were better than the league average..." I did not mean to imply that they were numerically higher than the league average.
May 19th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
So the Pirates' streak lasted almost three months - of course, they missed a few days' play during that period.... I'm surprised the 1976 As don't show up on this list. They stole 341 bases, led by North (75), Campaneris (54), Baylor (52), Washington (37), Garner (35), Lintz (31), and Alexander and Bando at 20.
May 19th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
The '76 A's had 2 streaks just short of the above list. (You can see them in the link). They had streaks of 17 games and 14 games (also 11 a little bit further down).