Baseball is a game of failure. We hear it all the time. If you fail 70% of the time at the plate, you're a Hall of Famer. But every once in a while, a team decides to stop failing. They just... win. For weeks.
It's a weird, hypnotic thing to watch. The pressure builds every night. The fans start showing up earlier. The "S" word—streak—becomes a forbidden whisper in the dugout. Honestly, though, when you look at the list of longest MLB winning streaks, the numbers tell two very different stories. One story is about the modern era of high-stakes, 162-game grinds. The other is a dusty, slightly controversial record from a time before airplanes or night games.
The 26-game "Asterisk" that still stands
If you check the official record books, the 1916 New York Giants hold the crown. They won 26 games in a row. Well, kind of.
Here's the catch: they actually played 27 games during that stretch. On September 18, 1916, they played the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second half of a doubleheader. The game was tied 1-1 in the ninth inning when the skies opened up. It got too dark to play (no stadium lights back then, remember?), so the game was called.
In 1916, a tie didn't count as a game played in the standings, but the individual stats still counted. So the Giants won 12, tied one, and then won 14 more. MLB officially recognizes this as a 26-game streak because the tie essentially vanished from the win-loss column. It’s a bit of a loophole, isn't it? What’s even crazier is that despite this historic run, those Giants finished 4th in the National League. You win 26 in a row and you don't even get a pennant? That's just cruel.
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22 games of Cleveland magic
For many modern fans, the real record-holder is the 2017 Cleveland Indians (now the Guardians). They didn't need any tie-game technicalities. They just went out and steamrolled the American League for 22 straight games.
It started on August 24 against the Red Sox. For three weeks, Cleveland was untouchable. They outscored opponents 142–37. Think about that. They were basically scoring four runs for every one they gave up. It wasn't just luck; it was a total statistical anomaly.
- Francisco Lindor was hitting everything in sight.
- Jay Bruce, a mid-season acquisition, became an instant folk hero.
- The pitching staff threw seven shutouts during the run.
The streak ended on a Friday night against the Royals, and even though they lost, the crowd gave them a standing ovation that lasted forever. It was the longest streak in the "expansion era" and, frankly, the most impressive display of sustained dominance we've seen in the 21st century.
Moneyball and the 2002 Oakland A’s
You’ve probably seen the movie. Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, Jonah Hill doing math in a dark room. The 20-game win streak by the 2002 Oakland Athletics is legendary because it shouldn't have happened.
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That team was built on a shoestring budget. They lost their big stars—Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon—to big-market teams. Yet, from August 13 to September 4, they couldn't lose. The 20th win was the stuff of a Hollywood script. They were up 11-0 against the Royals, blew the entire lead, and then Scott Hatteberg—the guy they recruited to play a position he’d never played—hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth.
It was the first time an American League team had ever hit 20 straight wins. Even though they didn't win the World Series that year, they changed how front offices look at data forever.
Why streaks are getting harder to pull off
Why don't we see 20-game streaks every year? Basically, the game is too specialized now.
In the early 1900s, you might face the same tired starter three times in a week. Today, if a starter struggles, a manager calls in a lefty specialist, then a 100-mph setup man, then a closer. The margin for error is razor-thin. Also, travel. The 1916 Giants played that entire 26-game streak at home. They didn't have to deal with jet lag or changing time zones.
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The Heavy Hitters List
- 1916 New York Giants: 26 games (with that pesky tie)
- 2017 Cleveland Indians: 22 games (the modern gold standard)
- 1935 Chicago Cubs: 21 games (propelled them to the World Series)
- 1880 Chicago White Stockings: 21 games (Cap Anson’s crew)
- 2002 Oakland Athletics: 20 games (the Moneyball miracle)
The mental toll of the "streak"
Ask any player who has been in the middle of a 15+ game run, and they’ll tell you the same thing: it’s exhausting. You start playing not to lose instead of playing to win.
Every ground ball feels heavier. Every relief appearance feels like Game 7 of the World Series. By the time the 2017 Indians got to game 22, the pressure was immense. Jay Bruce actually mentioned in interviews later that while it was the most fun he ever had, there was a sense of relief when it finally ended. You can finally breathe again.
What to look for next
If you're tracking the next great run, keep an eye on the schedule. Modern streaks almost always require a "perfect storm": a week of games against bottom-feeder teams followed by a homestand where your pitching rotation is perfectly aligned.
The next time a team hits 10 or 12 wins, don't ignore it. Statistics say they’ll probably lose tomorrow, but history says that once in a generation, a team forgets how to lose.
To dig deeper into the stats of these historic runs, check out the Baseball-Reference Streak Analyzer or the MLB History Vault. Comparing the run differentials of the 2017 Indians versus the 2002 A's gives a pretty clear picture of just how much more dominant that Cleveland squad really was on paper.