Indians look to surpass Giants 26-game streak

The red hot Cleveland Indians still have some work to do to surpass baseball’s longest winning streak.

More than 100 years ago, way back in 1916, the New York Giants set the record for consecutive games won without a loss.

In the midst of a 31-game September homestand at the legendary Polo Grounds, manager John McGraw’s Giants won 12 straight before a 1-1 tie with the Pittsburgh Pirates. New York beat Pittsburgh in a doubleheader the next day and went on to win 14 more games before losing the second game of a doubleheader to the Boston Braves on September 30. The 26-game winning streak included seven doubleheader sweeps.

It was a very strange year for the Giants. They started out 2-13 before embarking on a 17-game win streak, all on the road. Despite the two winning streaks, the Giants finished in fourth place, seven games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers, with an 86-66 record.

Exactly half of the Giants wins that year came occurred during the two streaks. Take away the streaks and the Giants were 43-66, nearly 25 games below .500.

Outfielder Dave Robertson was the only Giants regular to hit better than .300. He finished at .307 with a team-leading 12 home runs. The Giants hit only 42 homers as a team, but led the NL with 206 stolen bases. Pitchers Jeff Tesreau and Pol Perritt won 18 games apiece.

The Indians have already won 21 games in a row, equaling the 21-game streaks compiled by the Chicago Cubs in 1935 and the Chicago White Stockings in 1880. And Cleveland bettered the previous American League best 20-game winning streak reeled off by the Oakland A’s in 2002.

Other major streakers throughout baseball history included the Chicago White Sox (19 games in 1906), the New York Yankees (19 games in 1947 and 18 games in 1953) and the Giants (18 games in 1904).

Only the 1906 White Sox and the 1947 and 1953 Yankees went on to win the World Series.

The Providence Grays won 20 games in a row 1884, before baseball’s modern era began at the dawn of the 20^th Century. Amazingly, Hall of Famer Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn won 18 of those 20 games for Providence.