Braves’ winning and losing streaks
Posted by Andy on June 4, 2010
The Braves have a 9-game winning streak and a 9-game losing streak already this season.
As you might expect, it's fairly rare for a single team to get two streaks that long in the same season.
The last time this happened was 2008, when the Indians had a 10-game winning streak and a 9-game losing streak:
CLE sched 2008-08-17 2008-08-27 10-0 1.000
CLE sched 2008-06-29 2008-07-09 0-9 .000
The last time before thatwas in 2004 when the Rays had a 12-game winning streak and a 12-game losing streak:
TBD sched 2004-06-09 2004-06-22 12-0 1.000TBD sched 2004-08-27 2004-09-10 0-12 .000That same year the Pirates (?!?!) had a 10-game winning streak and a 9-game losing streak:
PIT sched 2004-06-26 2004-07-05 10-0 1.000PIT sched 2004-06-05 2004-06-15 0-9 .000I researched this using the PI Team Winning and Losing Streak Analyzer, which can do a lot more than just what I've shown here. Thanks to Mac from bravesjournal.com for the tip-off.
June 4th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
Reminds me of the 1987 Brewers. They started off the season 13-0 and built up a large lead in the AL East. All that evaporated with a 12-game losing streak in early May. They still won 91 games but they never were very close to the lead after that and finished third.
June 4th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
A couple things here:
I have always wanted to know the longest winning and losing streaks in a season overall.
Like a team wins 11 in a row then loses a game to a team that had a 5 game winning streak and that team wins 7 more (for a total of 12 in a row for them but basically 23 overall) before losing to a team that had a streak...and so on.
Also, which teams had double digit winning and losing streaks the closest in a season...
June 4th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
This post brings the '87 Brewers to mind. They had a 13 game winning streak and a 12 game losing streak within the first 35 games of the season.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIL/1987-schedule-scores.shtml
June 4th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
The 1985 Twins won their first 2, lost their next 9, then won their next 10.
June 4th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
On 11 May 1991, the Texas Rangers lost to Boston, putting their record at 11-14. They beat Boston the next day, on their way to a 14 game winning streak. Then on 28 May, they lost to the Twins at home, as well as losing the next two games. They picked up a win, then started an 8 game losing streak, which they followed with a 7 game winning streak.
June 4th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
The '82 Braves started their campaign 13-0, and then went 76-73 the rest of the way, just making the playoffs. This '10 Atlanta team is drawing a huge amount of base on balls. They have a shot at setting the all time record. I don't want to jinx them, but this group could be Atlanta's first pennant winner since '99.
June 4th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
The 1991 Phillies had a 5-game winning streak from 7/15-7/20, then a 7-game losing streak from 7/21-7/28, and after an off-day on 7/29, a 13-game winning streak from 7/30-8/12.
All seven games in the losing streak came during a 9-game West Coast trip. They won the first two games, in San Diego, then lost the third game against the Padres and were swept by the Dodgers and Giants. This was back in the days of the 6-team NL divisions, when the Phillies, Mets, and Expos traveled west at the same time to play the three California teams. The same day that the Phillies lost their seventh straight in San Francisco on the 28th, Dennis Martinez pitched his perfect game for the Expos in L.A. (Presumably, the Mets were in San Diego that day.) But maybe because of the All Star game, the Phillies had played the Dodgers and Giants at home before that trip but didn't face the Padres until after they returned home. They began their 13-game streak against San Diego at the Vet.
Incidentally, Dennis Martinez made his next two starts after his perfect game against the Phillies. The Expos lost both of them, but he got a no-decision in the first of those two. The second of those starts, when he was the losing pitcher, was also the 13th and last win in the streak.
Dennis Martinez trivia - He just missed being born on Friday the 13th, having been born on Saturday, May 14.
Roy Halladay trivia - He just missed being born on Friday the 13th, having been born on Saturday, May 14.