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Sabathia’s Home Winning Streak

Posted by Raphy on August 22, 2010

MLB.com is reporting that CC Sabathia has now won 15 consecutive decisions at home and has not lost a game there in his last 20 starts.  How does this rank historically? Here are a couple of PI searches to help frame Sabathia's streak. Both  charts are since 1920.

First- The most consecutive home decisions won:

Rk Strk Start End Games W L GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA HBP WP BK Tm
1 Ray Kremer 1926-05-11 1927-09-22 23 23 0 21 19 4 2 0 192.1 177 45 40 36 58 5 1.87 2 0 0 PIT
2 Lefty Grove 1938-05-03 1941-05-12 20 20 0 20 17 2 0 0 173.0 180 53 47 52 89 10 2.45 0 0 0 BOS
3 Kenny Rogers 1997-09-07 2000-04-03 19 19 0 19 6 2 0 0 144.0 121 31 25 38 77 9 1.56 4 3 1 NYY-OAK-NYM-TEX
4 Frank Viola 1987-05-27 1988-07-22 19 19 0 19 5 1 0 0 147.1 106 25 22 37 119 10 1.34 4 1 1 MIN
5 Roy Face 1958-06-21 1960-08-07 18 18 0 0 0 0 17 0 39.2 37 6 6 7 21 3 1.36 0 0 0 PIT
6 Lefty Grove 1932-07-16 1933-07-20 18 18 0 14 14 1 4 0 142.2 128 44 42 30 74 11 2.65 0 0 0 PHA
7 Johan Santana 2005-08-23 2007-04-02 17 17 0 17 0 0 0 0 121.1 79 21 20 23 141 9 1.48 3 2 0 MIN
8 Johnny Allen 1936-06-27 1937-09-26 17 17 0 17 15 2 0 0 150.1 137 42 40 45 93 3 2.39 2 6 0 CLE
9 Larry Benton 1927-08-29 1928-08-07 17 17 0 16 15 1 1 0 142.1 139 40 31 32 46 2 1.96 0 2 0 NYG
10 Barry Zito 2001-06-18 2002-07-18 16 16 0 16 3 2 0 0 112.1 72 21 20 35 98 8 1.60 4 1 0 OAK
11 Randy Johnson 1995-06-24 1997-06-13 16 16 0 16 5 3 0 0 123.0 61 23 20 40 167 7 1.46 1 3 2 SEA
12 Ron Guidry 1985-05-04 1986-04-24 16 16 0 16 7 0 0 0 125.1 119 38 35 17 76 10 2.51 0 2 0 NYY
13 John Tudor 1985-05-03 1986-04-12 16 16 0 16 11 6 0 0 133.2 84 16 15 19 80 3 1.01 0 1 0 STL
14 LaMarr Hoyt 1980-07-26 1982-05-24 16 16 0 9 4 0 6 0 88.2 77 26 22 21 48 3 2.23 2 2 0 CHW
15 Steve Carlton 1977-04-24 1977-09-09 16 16 0 16 12 1 0 0 136.0 89 31 30 34 126 10 1.99 1 1 1 PHI
16 Dave McNally 1968-07-11 1969-08-07 16 16 0 16 13 4 0 0 137.2 83 22 19 21 87 9 1.24 5 1 1 BAL
17 Johnny Allen 1932-05-11 1933-06-04 16 16 0 14 12 3 2 0 127.0 80 31 28 34 75 4 1.98 2 3 0 NYY
18 Tommy Greene 1991-09-15 1994-05-22 15 15 0 15 3 0 0 0 108.2 82 34 32 38 92 8 2.65 3 7 0 PHI
19 Dave Rozema 1981-06-01 1984-07-20 15 15 0 10 0 0 5 0 75.1 53 23 22 13 43 7 2.63 0 0 1 DET
20 Frank Linzy 1968-08-07 1970-04-29 15 15 0 0 0 0 13 0 35.1 25 8 8 9 22 3 2.04 2 0 0 SFG
21 Warren Spahn 1961-07-30 1962-06-02 15 15 0 15 14 3 0 0 131.0 90 21 19 26 73 5 1.31 2 1 0 MLN
22 Rip Sewell 1947-07-24 1949-07-09 15 15 0 9 6 0 5 0 97.2 86 28 28 26 24 9 2.58 1 1 0 PIT
23 Bill Lee 1935-09-07 1936-08-26 15 15 0 15 14 3 0 0 136.2 112 35 32 43 59 5 2.11 3 1 0 CHC
24 Eddie Rommel 1928-08-22 1931-05-06 15 15 0 9 7 0 6 0 105.2 103 29 26 21 20 5 2.21 2 0 1 PHA
25 Lefty Grove 1928-07-02 1929-06-25 15 15 0 14 13 2 1 0 128.0 98 22 16 32 67 2 1.13 0 0 0 PHA
26 CC Sabathia 2009-07-18 2010-08-17 14 14 0 14 1 0 0 0 101.0 70 24 22 29 83 6 1.96 4 5 1 NYY
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/22/2010.

Sabathia's totals will be updated in the PI tomorrow. He is now tied for 18th place, but would take a giant leap with another win.

To find the consecutive decisions streak:
In the Player Pitching Streak Finder: Select "Home", Set the "Pitcher Decision" to "Win or Loss" and set W=1.

As for consecutive home starts without a loss, Sabathia (whose numbers are not yet updated in the chart)  is slightly higher on the list, but has a much longer way to go:

Rk Strk Start End Games W L GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA HBP WP BK Tm
1 Kenny Rogers 1997-06-06 2000-04-03 38 20 0 38 6 2 0 0 256.0 231 98 88 92 143 17 3.09 13 4 2 NYY-OAK-NYM-TEX
2 Lefty Grove 1938-04-19 1941-06-15 28 20 0 28 17 2 0 0 216.2 238 85 73 69 108 16 3.03 3 1 0 BOS
3 Tommy Greene 1991-09-15 1994-05-22 27 15 0 27 3 0 0 0 171.1 150 68 66 66 145 10 3.47 3 9 0 PHI
4 Ray Kremer 1926-05-11 1927-09-22 26 21 0 26 19 4 0 0 211.1 202 62 52 38 58 5 2.21 2 0 0 PIT
5 Johan Santana 2005-08-06 2007-04-02 24 17 0 24 0 0 0 0 169.0 127 41 39 32 182 13 2.08 3 3 0 MIN
6 Barry Zito 2001-06-18 2002-07-18 24 16 0 24 3 2 0 0 158.2 112 45 42 54 137 13 2.38 9 2 0 OAK
7 Denny Neagle 1996-07-03 1997-09-13 24 14 0 24 2 2 0 0 166.0 144 59 52 30 105 17 2.82 2 2 0 PIT-ATL
8 Randy Johnson 1995-06-24 1997-06-13 24 16 0 24 5 3 0 0 172.1 100 45 41 66 237 12 2.14 4 4 2 SEA
9 Frank Viola 1987-05-27 1988-07-22 24 19 0 24 5 1 0 0 183.1 151 42 37 45 146 16 1.82 5 2 1 MIN
10 Dave McNally 1968-07-11 1969-08-07 24 16 0 24 13 4 0 0 180.0 124 44 38 32 110 13 1.90 5 3 1 BAL
11 Bruce Kison 1972-08-30 1975-07-09 23 14 0 23 7 1 0 0 166.0 126 49 43 71 92 9 2.33 2 5 2 PIT
12 Dennis Martinez 1980-09-01 1982-06-26 22 14 0 22 6 2 0 0 160.1 153 57 52 60 63 9 2.92 3 1 0 BAL
13 David Palmer 1979-07-13 1984-05-06 21 11 0 21 4 2 0 0 142.2 111 41 39 40 91 8 2.46 2 6 1 MON
14 Whitey Ford 1964-08-08 1965-08-18 21 14 0 21 5 2 0 0 143.1 125 39 34 23 105 7 2.13 1 5 0 NYY
15 Jack Kramer 1948-05-11 1949-09-21 21 12 0 21 10 2 0 0 144.2 161 72 69 54 44 10 4.29 1 1 1 BOS
16 Jim Weaver 1936-08-15 1938-09-05 21 9 0 21 5 1 0 0 123.0 115 58 44 50 53 1 3.22 0 1 0 PIT-CIN
17 Brian Anderson 1998-09-25 2000-06-28 20 10 0 20 2 1 0 0 135.0 128 48 46 18 71 14 3.07 1 0 1 ARI
18 Chris Knapp 1978-05-06 1980-05-01 20 10 0 20 4 0 0 0 129.1 112 52 49 46 74 12 3.41 1 0 0 CAL
19 Carl Erskine 1952-09-10 1953-08-30 20 13 0 20 10 2 0 0 143.1 125 59 52 41 105 14 3.27 1 3 0 BRO
20 Hal Newhouser 1945-07-07 1946-07-27 20 18 0 20 17 5 0 0 180.1 132 33 27 51 141 3 1.35 0 3 0 DET
21 CC Sabathia 2009-07-18 2010-08-17 19 14 0 19 1 0 0 0 135.0 100 37 34 43 119 8 2.27 4 6 1 NYY
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/22/2010.
To find the consecutive home starts without a loss streak:
In the Player Pitching Streak Finder: Select "Home", select "Starter" and set L=0.

23 Responses to “Sabathia’s Home Winning Streak”

  1. Gerry Says:

    Did you notice that Lefty Grove shows up three times in that first table? Twice for the Athletics, once for the Red Sox. The odd thing is, it looks like the Red Sox were trying to avoid using him at home (lefty in Fenway and all that). He was getting a lot more starts on the road than at home in those years.

    Johnny Allen also shows up twice, for two different teams.

  2. Brendan Says:

    Interesting that Kenny Rogers is the only pitcher to have changed teams at all during his streak. And three times!

  3. Adam Says:

    Maybe I am a moron, but am I reading this right. Kenny Rogers had 19 consecutive wins at home. He started 19 other games and in that time had one win and 18 no decisions at home. Wow.

  4. Sam Hicks Says:

    How come Kenny Rogers is listed on the first table with 19 consecutive wins between losses but is listed as 20-0 for his consecutive "lossless" games streak in the second table?

  5. Raphy Says:

    @4 Sam- The second table only includes starts. Rogers' streak in the first table starts a little later than his streak in the second table because of a relief loss on June 28th. Here are all of Rogers' home appearances from 1997-2000:
    http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/3hkSD

  6. Johnny Twisto Says:

    I must admit I know nothing about Ray Kremer, who had quite a nice career. Does anyone know why he didn't reach the majors until he was 30? Was it simply a matter of his PCL team not wanting to give him up?

    And the Rogers streak is really unbelievable. I feel like we must have heard about this at the time, but I have no memory of it.

  7. Morning Bits: Recap, A-Rod, Nunez, Nova, Sabathia | The iYankees Blog - A New York Yankees Blog Says:

    [...] yesterday’s outing, CC has now won 15 consecutive starts at home and hasn’t lost there over his last [...]

  8. Mark Says:

    Kenny Rogers was awesome in a way. 200+ Wins without 2000 K's...nice.

  9. Frank Clingenpeel Says:

    It seems to me that I recall a Giants pitcher -- I think it was Rube Marquard -- that posted a 18 or 19 game winning streak back in the 'Teens {and no, I didn't witness any of it first hand, thnk you very much!}

  10. Frank Clingenpeel Says:

    and that another one {Hubbell, I think} came close to tying that in the 1930s. AM I missing something here?

  11. Raphy Says:

    Frank- These streaks are only at home.

  12. Frank Clingenpeel Says:

    Thanks, Raph...my bad, as my grandson likes to say.

  13. LJF Says:

    #6 - Johnny, his PCL record wasn't too good until he was in his late 20's, so that may have had something to do with it. Was uncommon then, either, for a lot of the California players to want to stay close to home. My guess he was just a late bloomer (or maybe he was always good and the Oaks teams just got better) and it took a while for the eastern teams to take notice.

  14. Michael E Sullivan Says:

    The amazing thing on here is lefty grove with 3 completely separate streaks that make this list.

  15. Tmckelv Says:

    #6 JT, #13 LJF,

    Because of your comments, I checked out Ray Kremer's stats for myself (he WAS pretty good). Also, I noticed that he had a season with 20 wins and 5.02 ERA...that seemed strange so checked it out and Ray is at the top of another list. Most wins in a season with a 5.00+ ERA (he and Bobo Newsome are the only 2 listed in PI with 20 wins and 5.00+ ERA). It sounds bad, but Kremer did it in 1930 so his ERA+ was 99, so it wasn't horrendous.

    That is wy I love this web site - there is something interesting (to baseball stat fans, at least) on every page.

  16. TheGoof Says:

    I've always thought those Pirate teams of the 1920s, particularly under McKechnie, were underrated. But even though I knew Kremer was good, I guess I never really appreciated how good.

  17. Patrick Says:

    Sabathia does currently hold one major league record - most career decisions without a .500 or worse season. He and Roy Oswalt (who is currently 9-13 and therefore has some work to do) both have more career decisions than the leading retired pitcher who never had an even or worse season.

    And who might this retired pitcher be? Surprise!

  18. Gerry Says:

    Sabathia is 153-86, 239 decisions. Deacon Phillippe was 189-109, 298 decisions. Of his 13 seasons, 10 were above .500, one was exactly .500 (10-10), and two were 0-0. Dizzy Dean had 233 decisions, 12 seasons, 9 over .500, one at .500 (3-3), and two at 0-0. Pettitte has 377 decisions, 16 seasons, 15 above .500, but in 2008 he was 14-14. But I think Al Spalding has the record; 317 decisions over 7 seasons, and his worst W-L percentage was .655.

  19. Patrick Says:

    @Gerry - I only tracked this back to post-1901 pitchers, so I didn't look at Spalding. I was looking a while back for any pitching records that Ruth holds, and he still has a few (post 1901)!

  20. devans Says:

    I think the most impressive streak is Steve Carlton's 16 home appearances in a row with a Win (#15 on the top table -- but his were all in a row -- i.e., no 'no-decisions' to keep the streak alive)

    Rk Strk Start End Games W L GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA HBP WP BK Tm
    1 Steve Carlton 1977-04-24 1977-09-09 16 16 0 16 12 1 0 0 136.0 89 31 30 34 126 10 1.99 1 1 1 PHI
    2 Warren Spahn 1961-07-30 1962-06-02 15 15 0 15 14 3 0 0 131.0 90 21 19 26 73 5 1.31 2 1 0 MLN
    3 Pete Schourek 1995-06-24 1996-05-08 14 14 0 14 2 0 0 0 99.0 72 23 20 20 80 3 1.82 3 1 0 CIN
    4 Ron Guidry 1985-06-28 1986-04-24 14 14 0 14 5 0 0 0 107.1 108 34 31 15 70 7 2.60 0 2 0 NYY
    5 Billy Pierce 1961-09-24 1963-04-16 14 14 0 13 6 3 0 0 112.1 88 34 33 22 56 12 2.64 2 1 3 CHW-SFG
    6 Danny MacFayden 1937-07-17 1938-08-04 14 14 0 14 14 6 0 0 131.0 89 13 10 24 23 0 0.69 0 1 0 BSN
    7 Bob Welch 1990-05-11 1990-10-02 13 13 0 13 1 1 0 0 96.2 76 24 18 32 64 5 1.68 2 1 1 OAK
    8 Bobby Shantz 1951-08-12 1952-07-02 13 13 0 13 12 1 0 0 112.1 82 30 23 35 50 4 1.84 3 0 1 PHA
    9 Lefty Grove 1931-06-08 1931-09-24 13 13 0 11 9 0 2 0 103.1 90 36 24 17 64 3 2.09 1 0 0 PHA
    10 Ron Guidry 1983-05-27 1983-09-29 12 12 0 12 11 1 0 0 106.1 79 27 26 26 69 9 2.20 1 0 0 NYY
    11 Larry Benton 1927-08-29 1928-06-16 12 12 0 11 10 1 1 0 100.1 95 26 20 19 37 2 1.79 0 1 0 NYG
    12 Jerry Reuss 1975-04-30 1975-08-24 11 11 0 11 9 5 0 0 95.0 61 5 5 23 61 3 0.47 0 2 1 PIT
    13 Mike Cuellar 1970-06-20 1970-09-24 11 11 0 11 9 2 0 0 96.0 86 29 25 19 50 7 2.34 0 1 0 BAL
    14 Tex Hughson 1944-04-30 1944-07-06 11 11 0 11 10 2 0 0 95.0 74 19 17 14 52 1 1.61 0 0 1 BOS
    15 Carl Hubbell 1936-07-30 1937-05-13 11 11 0 10 9 1 1 0 92.2 67 19 16 18 51 6 1.55 1 0 0 NYG
    Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
    Generated 8/26/2010.
  21. devans Says:

    whoops - sorry about the bad formatting 🙁

    To get the table, click on "Home" and "Wins (set equal to 1) = 1"

  22. Raphy Says:

    Devans - I convinced the blog to post (what I think is) your table. If I am wrong please let me know.

  23. devans Says:

    Thanks, Raphy 🙂