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Hot and Cold

by Tom Ruane

Essays


                     
 
Early in the 1998 baseball season, the defending champion Florida
Marlins suffered through an 11-game losing streak.  Which sent me
running to my data base to discover the best teams of the 20th century
(at least according to their winning percentage) to suffer through long
losing streaks the following year.  Here they are:
 
    Team   Year   W   L   Pct Fin  Strk Start Lost    W   L   Pct Fin
    BRO N  1942 104  50  .675   2   7-28-1943   10   81  72  .529   3
    PHI A  1914  99  53  .651   1   9-20-1915   11   43 109  .283   8
    CHI A  1920  96  58  .623   2   9-14-1921   11   62  92  .403   7
    STL N  1928  95  59  .617   1   6-23-1929   11   78  74  .513   4
    PHI A  1907  88  57  .607   2   9-20-1908   10   68  85  .444   6
    DET A  1946  92  62  .597   2   6-11-1947   10   85  69  .552   2
    BRO N  1924  92  62  .597   2   9-13-1925   12   68  85  .444   6
    CHI N  1984  96  65  .596   1   6-12-1985   13   77  84  .478   4
    BOS A  1975  95  65  .594   1   4-29-1976   10   83  79  .512   3
    CHI A  1955  91  63  .591   3   7- 7-1956   11   85  69  .552   3
    CIN N  1956  91  63  .591   3   8-13-1957   10   80  74  .519   4
 
Most of the headings are obvious.  "Fin" is their final place in the
standings.  "Strk Start" is the date of the first loss in the streak.
 
The big collapses here are not too surprising.  Connie Mack held a
fire sale after his 1914 pennant winners dropped the World Series.
The White Sox in 1920--well, I'd rather not get into all that.  Still,
six of these eleven teams managed to post winning records the next
season despite their losing streaks--something few other clubs with
these lapses have be able to accomplish.  Of the 318 such strings of
losses between 1901 and 1997, only 28 were posted by teams finishing
over .500.  The best of them:
 
    Team   Strk Start Lost    W   L   Pct Fin
    NY  N   4-19-1951   11   98  59  .624   1
    PHI A   8-24-1925   12   88  64  .579   2
    LA  N   8-14-1961   10   89  65  .578   2
    PHI N   9-21-1964   10   92  70  .568   2
    MIL A   5- 3-1987   12   91  71  .562   3
 
One other team reached the post-season despite a long losing streak:
the 1982 Atlanta Braves, who won 13 straight in April only to give back
10 consecutive in August.
 
I guess we should take a quick look at the other side of the coin; here
are the worst teams to win at least ten in a row:
 
    Team   Strk Start  Won    W   L   Pct Fin
    CHI A   5-18-1976   10   64  97  .398   6
    HOU N   4-21-1965   10   65  97  .401   9
    BAL A   7-12-1987   11   67  95  .414   6
    CHI N   9- 5-1953   10   65  89  .422   7
    KC  A   7-19-1959   11   66  88  .429   7
    PIT N   9-12-1996   11   73  89  .451   5
    MIL A   6- 8-1973   10   74  88  .457   5
    SF  N   7-20-1991   11   75  87  .463   4
    ATL N   4-26-1970   11   76  86  .469   5
    MIN A   4-21-1985   10   77  85  .475   4
 
Only 24 of the 285 winning streaks of ten or more between 1901 and 1997
were fashioned by teams ending up under .500.
 
Here are the teams with back-to-back streaks of eight games or more:
 
    Streaks  Team   Strk Start    W   L   Pct Fin
     9W-10L  CHI N   5-22-1920   75  79  .487   5
    13W- 8L  DET A   8-10-1927   82  71  .536   4
     9L- 8W  CHI N   8-30-1931   84  70  .545   3
     8L- 8W  BOS A   6-28-1949   96  58  .623   2
     8L- 9W  CIN N   4-20-1961   93  61  .604   1
     8L-12W  PIT N   5-12-1965   90  72  .556   3
     8W- 9L  MIN A   7- 2-1978   73  89  .451   4
     9L-10W  MIN A   4-11-1985   77  85  .475   4
     8W- 8L  BAL A   8- 2-1993   85  77  .525   3
 
Other random notes on streaks:
 
On June 7, 1913, the Yankees beat the White Sox 3-2, ending a string of
13 straight losses.  They have not lost ten in a row since.  During that
time, they have had 24 long winning streaks.
 
The Milwaukee Braves won their tenth game in a row on May 28, 1954, and
while the fans in Milwaukee hadn't waited too long for one, it was the
first such streak for the franchise in the 20th century.
 
The Phillies had a similar dry spell.  They started a ten-game winning
streak on August 28, 1901.  They wouldn't start another until July 19,
1955.
 
 
In early 1953, the New York Yankees won 18 straight games.  Most of
these wins were very impressive, as they outscored their opponents by
a combined score of 129 to 44.  That got me to wondering if any other
team since 1901 had done even better over a similar period.  Well, the
short answer is yes.  The 1939 Yankees, from August 12 to 28, scored
126 more runs than they allowed despite dropping two decisions.  Here's
a log of those games:
 
      Date      Away  Home  Score
    08-12-39    NY  A PHI A 18  4
    08-13-39(1) NY  A PHI A  9 12
    08-13-39(2) NY  A PHI A 21  0
    08-15-39    WAS A NY  A  2  3
    08-16-39    WAS A NY  A  0  4
    08-17-39    WAS A NY  A  8  9
    08-18-39    PHI A NY  A  0  5
    08-20-39(1) PHI A NY  A  5  4
    08-20-39(2) PHI A NY  A  1  5
    08-22-39    NY  A CHI A 14  5
    08-23-39(1) NY  A CHI A  7  2
    08-23-39(2) NY  A CHI A 16  4
    08-24-39    NY  A STL A 11  5
    08-25-39(1) NY  A STL A 11  0
    08-25-39(2) NY  A STL A  8  2
    08-26-39    NY  A STL A  6  1
    08-27-39    NY  A DET A 13  3
    08-28-39    NY  A DET A 18  2
 
A list of the teams with the largest combined margin of victory over
18 games:
 
    Team   Starting   W  L T   RS  RA  +/-    W   L   Pct
    NY  A   8-12-39  16  2 0  182  56  126  106  45  .702
    WAS A   6- 8-33  16  2 0  163  58  105   99  53  .651
    NY  N   6-18-04  17  1 0  143  43  100  106  47  .693
    PIT N   7-20-11  17  1 0  140  42   98   85  69  .552
    NY  A   6-29-38  15  2 1  159  69   90   99  53  .651
    PHI A   8- 9-02  16  2 0  131  42   89   83  53  .610
    NY  A   7-31-53  14  4 0  130  42   88   99  52  .656
    PIT N   9- 4-01  15  3 0  148  61   87   90  49  .647
    DET A   4-10-93  14  4 0  150  64   86   85  77  .525
    NY  A   5-27-53  18  0 0  129  44   85   99  52  .656
 
RS = runs scored, RA = runs allowed.
I've eliminated overlapping periods in this list.  The 1939 Yankees
during mid-August, for example, would've had 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and
7th place on the list.
 
So as impressive as the 1953 Yankees were during their winning streak,
they had an even more dominant stretch (at least as far as runs scored
and allowed) later on in the same year.
 
The worst teams over the same period:
 
    Team   Starting   W  L T   RS  RA  +/-    W   L   Pct
    CIN N   6- 9-01   2 15 1   61 157  -96   52  87  .374
    PHI A   8- 8-39   4 14 0   61 153  -92   55  97  .362
    NY  A   6-20-12   2 16 0   58 150  -92   50 102  .329
    BOS N   7-15-40   2 16 0   62 154  -92   65  87  .428
    PHI A   7- 4-54   2 16 0   45 134  -89   51 103  .331
    BOS N   7-17-11   1 17 0   54 142  -88   44 107  .291
    COL N   5-12-93   3 15 0   52 140  -88   67  95  .414
    DET A   5-16-96   1 17 0   65 152  -87   53 109  .327
    BOS N   7- 2-35   1 17 0   65 151  -86   38 115  .248
    ATL N   4-22-77   1 17 0   52 138  -86   61 101  .377
 
A few oddities:
 
    Team   Starting   W  L T   RS  RA  +/-    W   L   Pct
    WAS A   6-24-27  15  3 0   95 100   -5   85  69  .552
    NY  A   6-25-39   8 10 0  110  53   57  106  45  .702
    BOS A   8-10-85   3 15 0   82  82    0   81  81  .500
 
The Senators took a 10-game winning streak into Yankee Stadium for
a double-header on July 4th, 1927.  They dropped both ends with a
vengeance, losing 12-1 and 21-1, in what I would guess is the most
resounding end to a victory streak in modern times.
 
In scores that look like something out of the 1960 World Series,
the Yankees between June 25th and July 9th, 1939, won 8 games by
scores of 11-2, 23-2, 10-0, 7-0, 10-2, 9-3, 11-1 and 6-4, while
dropping 10 by scores of 3-2, 2-1, 5-3, 7-3, 3-2, 4-3, 3-1, 3-2,
4-3 and 5-3.
 
The 1985 Red Sox only won 3 games between August 10th and 29th, but
those were by scores of 16-3, 8-4 and 17-2.  Over the same period they
dropped 5 games by 1 run, 5 games by 2 runs, 3 games by 3 runs and 2
games by 4 runs.
 
 
And some more odds and ends I noticed while looking at streaks:
 
The longest series.  On August 19, 1945, the Philadelphia Athletics
arrived in Detroit and proceeded to play the Tigers eight times over
the next five days.  It was the last of 11 eight-game series played this
century.  There have been 39 seven-game series since 1901, but only
one (the Mets at Chicago from August 31st to September 3rd, 1967) since
the end of 1945.  Of those 11 eight-game series, two ended in 8-0
sweeps; none of the 39 seven-game series were swept.
 
The most lopsided series.  When most people in the Northeast think
about this, the famous (or infamous) Fenway Massacre comes to mind.
Arriving in Boston four games behind their division rival, the Yankees
proceeded to win four straight from the Red Sox by a combined score
of 42-9.  This was not, however, the most lopsided series.  That
distinction goes to the Pirates-Giants series toward the end of
1901.  The game log:
 
      Date      Away  Home  Score
     9- 4-01(1) PIT N NY  N 12  6
     9- 4-01(2) PIT N NY  N 10  3
     9- 5-01(1) PIT N NY  N 15  1
     9- 5-01(2) PIT N NY  N 15  7
     9- 6-01(1) PIT N NY  N 15  2
     9- 6-01(2) PIT N NY  N 13  4
 
In six games, the closest the Giants came to a victory was a 12-6
loss in the opening game.  Here is the most lopsided series of each
length:
 
Games #Series    Date    Away  Fin  Home  Fin  Score(s)
    1    2682   5- 6-03  NY  N (2)  BRO N (5)  20- 2
                5-11-30  PHI A (1)  CLE A (4)   7-25
                4-13-55  WAS A (8)  NY  A (1)   1-19
    2   10040   9-10-24  BOS N (8)  NY  N (1)   1-22  0- 8
    3   21501   9-23-01  BRO N (3)  CIN N (8)  25- 6 16- 2  9- 2
    4   11503   5-23-36  NY  A (1)  PHI A (8)  12- 6 15- 1 25- 2  7-10
                6-23-49  STL A (7)  BOS A (2)   0- 7  2-21  2-13  3- 5
    5    1849   7-28-11  BOS N (8)  PIT N (3)   4- 9  2-17  2-10  1- 8
                                                2-10
    6     365   9- 4-01  PIT N (1)  NY  N (7)  12- 6 10- 3 15- 1 15- 7
                                               15- 2 13- 4
    7      39   7-21-04  BOS N (7)  CIN N (3)   1- 2  4- 2  3- 4  7-12
                                                3- 1  1-15  4-11
                7-18-23  BOS A (8)  CHI A (7)   6- 3  3-11  3- 8  5- 4
                                                1- 8  1- 2  2- 9
    8      11   9-10-28  NY  N (2)  BOS N (7)   4- 1 11- 0 11- 6  7- 6
                                               12- 2  7- 6  6- 2  5- 1
 
The visiting team score is given first and the numbers in parenthesis
following each team is their eventual finish in the standings.
My definition of a series is a string of consecutive games played by
the same teams at the same park.  Before Sunday baseball came to
Pennsylvania, it was not uncommon for teams to play Friday and
Saturday in Philadelphia, for example, travel to New York for a Sunday
contest, before returning to Philly for a Monday game.  No doubt the
participants thought of this as a four-game series, but by reckoning
it was a two-games series following by a pair of one-gamers.
 
The best offense is a good offense (and vice versa).  If you like
to see runs scored, you should have been at Fenway Park from June
3rd to 10th, 1950.  On the other hand, followers of the Cubs at the
end of June and early July in 1906 were treated to an unprecedented
string of pitching duels.  The fewest and most combined runs scored
over an eight-game stretch, side by side:
 
      Date      Away  Home  Score      Date      Away  Home  Score
    06-25-06    STL N CHI N  1  2    06-03-50    CLE A BOS A  9 11
    06-26-06    STL N CHI N  0  1    06-04-50    CHI A BOS A  7 17
    06-28-06    CIN N CHI N  2  1    06-05-50    CHI A BOS A  0 12
    06-30-06    CIN N CHI N  1  2    06-06-50    CHI A BOS A  8  4
    07-01-06    CIN N CHI N  0  1    06-07-50    STL A BOS A  4 20
    07-02-06    CIN N CHI N  1  0    06-08-50    STL A BOS A  4 29
    07-04-06(1) CHI N PIT N  1  0    06-09-50    STL A BOS A 12  7
    07-04-06(2) CHI N PIT N  1  0    06-10-50    DET A BOS A 18  8
 
The worst offense is a....  In 1963, the Colt .45s were a team of
the future.  That fall, they would field an all-rookie lineup and
their farm system was loaded.  In June, however, they ran into a
record stretch of offensive futility.  When it was all over, they
had scored a total of three runs in nine games:
 
      Date      Away  Home  Score
    06-18-63    HOU N CHI N  1  3
    06-19-63    HOU N CHI N  1  9
    06-20-63    HOU N CHI N  0  5
    06-21-63    HOU N CIN N  0  3
    06-22-63    HOU N CIN N  0  3
    06-23-63(1) HOU N CIN N  0  4
    06-23-63(2) HOU N CIN N  1  8
    06-24-63    HOU N MIL N  0  3
    06-25-63    HOU N MIL N  0  4
 
The best defense.  As good as the Cub pitchers were from June 25th to
July 4th, 1906, their crosstown rivals were even better in August of
that year, allowing only four runs in eight games.  One other team has
matched that feat, but it isn't a team that's normally mentioned
when great pitching (or great anything, for that matter) is discussed.
Their records:
 
      Date      Away  Home  Score      Date      Away  Home  Score
    08-07-06    PHI A CHI A  0  4    09-09-66    DET A KC  A  1  2
    08-08-06    PHI A CHI A  0  1    09-10-66    DET A KC  A  0  5
    08-09-06    PHI A CHI A  2  3    09-11-66    DET A KC  A  1  5
    08-10-06    NY  A CHI A  1  2    09-13-66    KC  A CLE A  3  1
    08-11-06    NY  A CHI A  1  8    09-14-66    KC  A CLE A  3  0
    08-12-06    NY  A CHI A  0  3    09-15-66    KC  A CLE A  1  0
    08-13-06    NY  A CHI A  0  0    09-18-66(1) KC  A WAS A  3  0
    08-15-06    CHI A BOS A  6  0    09-18-66(2) KC  A WAS A  0  1
 
Consecutive one-run games.  Here is a list of all the teams that have
played ten or more consecutive one-run games
 
     # Team  Starting  W  L T
    11 CIN N  5-28-67  7  4 0
    10 CHI A  6- 1-82  4  6 0
    10 LA  N  4- 7-86  3  7 0
    10 SD  N  4- 7-86  7  3 0
 
The ten between the Dodgers and Padres were from the start of the
season and, no, they didn't play each other in all ten.
 
      Date      Away  Home  Score      Date      Away  Home  Score
    04-07-86    SD  N LA  N  1  2
    04-08-86    SD  N LA  N  1  0
    04-09-86    SD  N LA  N  0  1
    04-10-86    SD  N LA  N  3  2
    04-11-86    SF  N LA  N  9  8    04-11-86    CIN N SD  N  3  4
    04-12-86    SF  N LA  N  7  6    04-12-86    CIN N SD  N  3  2
    04-13-86    SF  N LA  N  2  3    04-13-86    CIN N SD  N  6  7
    04-14-86    LA  N SD  N  3  4
    04-15-86    LA  N SD  N  1  2
    04-16-86    LA  N SD  N  1  2
 
My program wasn't set up to look for streaks across season boundaries,
but the Dodgers did end 1985 with a one-run game, tying the 1967
Reds for the top spot.  Of course, others may have bettered both marks
with, for example, a 6-6 split across seasons.
 

Complete data for all the streaks studied.

Tom Ruane


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