Editor’s note: This is a strange and wild short. To read this week’s entire Weird and Wild column, click here.
It was April 9, 2023, when something apparently uneventful happened in Baltimore.
Why would we reverse that? Because that was the last out of the last series the Orioles lost against any of the other four teams in their division, the American League East. That was an incredible 432 days ago.
And what has happened since then? Oh, just something historic and unfathomable: the Orioles have played 21 consecutive series against teams in their division without losing any of them.
They have won 15 of those series. Six have been divided. But not losing any of them, against such good teams? That is awesome.
So how historic and amazing is it? I asked my friends at STATS Perform to take a look at it.
Since the dawn of division play (and the invention of the American League East) in 1969, only three other teams have navigated 21 consecutive series against their division without losing a series of any length.
YEARS | EQUIPMENT | DIVISION | SERIES |
---|---|---|---|
1969-70 | red | National League West | twenty-one |
1975 | red | National League West | twenty-one |
1998-2000 | Braves | National League East | twenty-one |
2023-24 | Orioles | At least | twenty-one |
So we’re just talking about two incarnations of the legendary Big Red Machine, plus the Braves’ quasi-dynasty of the 1990s and early 2000s. And that’s it, more or less. If we want to skip the one-game “series,” we can add one more team: the 1991-92 Robin Yount/Paul Molitor Brewers, then playing in the American League East. His streak was also 21 in a row.
But that is the complete list. Not pictured: the mighty 1998 Yankees, 2001 Mariners, 2018 Red Sox, 1986 Mets, or any other juggernaut you want to pitch. That’s only four teams in more than half a century… plus these Orioles. And none of the other four reached 22 consecutive series, while the Orioles’ streak is still alive and well.
Wait, but. There is more. The Orioles have won 15 of those 21 series. And the only other team on this list to win that many was the 1998-2000 Braves, who went 17-0-4. But now let’s dig deeper, because we haven’t even gotten to the most important part:
I think you can argue that this is the most impressive streak of the entire divisional play era.
And how would we make that case? Easy. Just look at how good the other teams in the division were against everyone else.
EQUIPMENT | DIV. RECORD | DIV GAIN PCT | DIV GAMES OVER .500 |
---|---|---|---|
2023-24 Orioles | 441-322* | .578 | +119 |
1969-70 Reds | 274-310 | .469 | -36 |
1991-92 Brewers | 441-479 | .479 | -38 |
1998-00 Braves | 365-407 | .473 | -42 |
1975 Reds | 309-372 | .454 | -63 |
(*until June 11)
(Source: STATS Perform)
Then those other four teams broke their streaks against teams that were 179 games under .500 against everyone else. The Orioles, on the other hand, have broken their streak (and are 46-22 against their division) while playing teams that have a better record over the past two years than the Astros… except when playing the Orioles.
The point, then, is that not all streaks are the same. And we are only beginning to contemplate the magnitude of this streak.
But wait. This is about to get even better. Next week, Tuesday through Thursday, the Orioles will try to become the first team in this era to extend one of these streaks to 22 straight series…by entering Yankee Stadium to face the Yankees. Perfect.
Baseball! Writing one spectacular script after another, every week of every season.
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(Top photo of James McCann and Gunnar Henderson after a McCann home run against the Rays: Chris O’Meara/KeynoteUSA)
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