The Cleveland Indians went on a roll last season after the Cleveland Cavaliers brought the city a title, winning 14 in a row. On Wednesday they collected a record-setting 21st consecutive win by defeating the Detroit Tigers.
As an A’s fan, this win streak has kind of sucked. Plenty of teams have won ten in a row since the 2002 Oakland squad rattled off 20 straight, but seemingly nobody had come terribly close to the 20 game plateau, typically petering out around 15. Once the Tribe had swept the Orioles over the weekend, the writing was on the wall with a diminished Tigers team as their only blockade.
The streak itself started on Thursday, August 24 against the Boston Red Sox in the finale of a series that the two teams split. From there they welcomed Kansas City (who always seem to be in the middle of these streaks…), travelled to New York and swept the Yankees, which included a doubleheader thanks to a postponed second game of the series.
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Starting in September, the Cleveland Indians have faced the Tigers seven times, accounting one-third of the win streak, and that is a Tigers team sans Justin Verlander (traded to Houston) and Justin Upton (traded to the Angels), while Michael Fulmer has been out due to injury. That’s just the bitter fan in me talking. The A’s had plenty of easier teams to face during they streak too.
As a baseball fan, this streak is truly amazing. While the 1916 New York Giants hold the record for consecutive wins at 26, they also had a tie thrown in there due to a rain-shortened game, so it’s really more of an undefeated streak, which any hockey fan or All Star game enthusiast can tell you isn’t quite as cool.
This Cleveland squad is special. So was last year’s. Much like the A’s, they have the starting staff to shut the opposition down each and every night (though sometimes you give Tim Hudson an 11-0 lead against the Royals and it takes Scott Hatteberg‘s historic home run to clinch the 20th win) and they have a potent offense. The Tribe almost certainly gets the edge on defense, too. Plus they’re a bunch of likable guys, with arguably the most likable guy in the big leagues, Francisco Lindor.
During the streak Cleveland has outscored their opponents by over a hundred runs,139-35, including seven shutouts and just three one-run games. While 21 wins in a row is a tremendous feat, the ease with which it seemingly happened it even more staggering. They have trailed for all of four innings in the past three weeks.
The A’s had to win in walk-off fashion three games in a row just to make it to 20 while the Indians are out here scoring 6.5 runs per game and allowing just 1.6.
The one worrisome aspect of this streak is that, like the Dodgers, they could be peaking too soon. We all know that streaks are possible, but eventually teams (Dodgers) or players (Aaron Judge) will regress back to the their own mean. With the playoffs coming up, the timing of a potential regression could spell disaster.
I’m happy for Cleveland and will be pulling for them in the postseason, but, as is true with any regular season accomplishment, it only matters if you win the last game of your season. The A’s and Warriors were unable to do so (maybe there’s something in the Bay Area water?). Maybe the Tribe can buck that trend this October.