The West Coast road trip immediately following the All-Star break should have provided the Cleveland Indians a soft and productive way to ease into the second half of the season. The Indians were scheduled to play a pair of three-game series with the Bay Area’s two woeful last-place teams.
The Indians, last season’s A.L. champions, were in first place in the American League Central with a 47-40 record, two and a half games in front of Minnesota and three games ahead of Kansas City. Oakland, the Indians’ first post-break opponent, had a 39-50 record, 21 games from first place in the A.L. West. The A’s Bay neighbor, San Francisco, had an even worse record, 34-56, 27 games from first in the National League West.
So what did the Indians do? The A’s swept their series, and the Giants won two of three. As the Indians staggered home, their division lead had shrunk to half a game.
Home, however, was apparently just what the Indians needed. Playing seven games at Progressive Field against the Blue Jays, the Reds and the Angels, Cleveland won all seven, then won the first two on their next trip to Chicago.
As it turned out, that nine-game winning streak was a prelude to the remarkable A.L. record 22-game winning streak the Indians compiled from Aug. 24 through Sept. 14, 22 wins in 22 days, and on the last day the streak was alive the Indians had a 13 ½-game lead. Or as that old baseball adage proclaims, a win a day keeps the contenders away.
When the streak ended last Friday, with a 4-3 loss to Kansas City, the only longer winning streak belonged to the 1916 New York Giants, who won 26 in a row with a tied game mixed in without affecting the winning streak, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
I’m not sure I agree that the 1-1 tie, which was the outcome of a game shortened to eight innings by rain, should be discounted as if it weren’t played. The Giants didn’t lose the game, but they didn’t win it either. If it were considered as a game that ended the Giants’ winning streak because it wasn’t a win, the Giants would have had winning streaks of 12 and 14 games, both impressive but neither a record.
Perhaps in judging the Giants’ record winning streak two other factors should be considered:
- All 26 games were Giants’ home games, played at the Polo Grounds; advantage Giants.
- Of the 26 games the Giants won, 18 were played as parts of doubleheaders, including the makeup of the rain-shortened game with Pittsburgh; disadvantage Giants.
Playing at home for so many games within a month was clearly beneficial to the Giants. In their 26 winning games, the Giants played Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. With all teams in those days, east of the Mississippi, the travel was not unduly arduous. Playing at home, though for basically the last month of the season was a good deal for the Giants.
Playing nine doubleheaders in three weeks is a difficult chore no matter where the games are played and even if John McGraw is the manager. Doubleheaders in those days meant playing the second game 20 or 30 minutes after completion of the first. Day-night doubleheaders and twilight-night doubleheaders were not on the schedule because night games had yet to appear on schedules because parks didn’t have lights.
The Giants, to their credit, did not let the doubleheaders affect them. At the same time, the Giants did not win the National League pennant. They finished fourth, eight games behind the Brooklyn Robins.
As for the winning streaks, the best perspective I have seen comes from a former writer for this web site. Writing for The Ringer, Zach Kram wrote:
“Cleveland’s baseball team has won 22 games in 22 days. Its football team has won 22 games since September 2011—a span of 94 games, 13 starting quarterbacks, and four head coaches.”
Here’ another perspective. The 22 victories the Indians gained in the streak are 55 percent of the 40 victories the Mets gained in the entire season of 1962, their first.
Finally, the American League has had only two other double-digit winning streaks this season. Houston won 11 in a row, Texas 10. In the National League, the Dodgers have won 11 and 10 in a row, but the Diamondbacks own the longest winning streak, 13 games.
The Indians won their 22nd straight in dramatic fashion and nearly duplicated it the next night for No. 23.
Thursday night:
The Indians are in the bottom of the ninth, losing to the Royals, 2-1. Kelvin Herrera, the Kansas City closer, is pitching. With one out, Tyler Naquin bats for Brandon Guyer and singles to left. Francisco Mejia bats for Yan Gomes and forces Naquin at second. Erik Gonzalez runs for Mejia, and this becomes Terry Francona’s most critical move.
Francisco Lindor, with two strikes, slugs a fly ball off the left field wall for a double and Gonzalez races home with the tying run.
The Royals don’t score in the 10th, and Brandon Maurer comes in to pitch for Kansas City. Jose Ramirez doubles to right-center. Edwin Encarnacion walks. Jay Bruce lines a double to right field, sending Ramirez home with the winning run. The Indians’ streak is now a league record 22.
Friday night:
The Indians are in the bottom of the ninth, losing to the Royals, 4-3. Mike Minor is pitching for the Royals, and Diaz leads off with a single to right. Gomes strikes out. Mejia bats for Allen and strikes out. Lindor, with two strikes, swings and misses for strike three.
The winning streak is no longer.
Except the Indians beat the Royals Saturday night, 8-4, clinching the A.L. Central crown and starting another winning streak.
MANFRED NEEDS WRITING LESSON
Rob Manfred, the baseball commissioner, made a good decision when he opted to go to law school. Among other vocations, he probably wouldn’t have made it in journalism.
Manfred issued a statement last week announcing that he was fining the Boston Red Sox an undisclosed amount for violating the rule that prohibits teams from using electronics to steal opposing teams’ signs.
The Yankees had filed a complaint with Manfred’s office, and he said in his statement that his investigators found evidence to support the accusation.
Once the Red Sox were unmasked as cheaters, they filed a complaint against the Yankees, saying they had used a YES television camera to steal signs from the Red Sox.
In his statement, though, Manfred buried the Yankees’ part in the dueling schemes. Saying the Red Sox charge lacked confirming evidence, Manfred said he was levying a lesser fine on the Yankees for some other obscure misdemeanor.
Instead of having a news release written by his capable public relations staff, he issued his statement and buried his decision on the Red Sox complaint. A sentence or two high up in his statement saying what he decided on that matter would have been far better than what he wrote. Next time Manfred should let his communications aides do the communicating for him.
JUDGE POSES PROBLEM FOR YANKEES
Will the Yankees let Aaron Judge have a chance to break the major league strikeout record? He broke the Yankees’ record Saturday when Chris Tillman of Baltimore struck him out in the fifth inning. It was Judge’s 196th strikeout of the season and broke a tie with Curtis Granderson.
Judge has 14 games remaining in the season to eclipse the major league record of 223 set by Mark Reynolds with Arizona in 2005. If opposing pitchers give Judge a chance to strike out by not walking him, an average of two strikeouts a game could put his name in The Elias Book of Baseball Records.
The Yankees would prefer that not happen to the rookie outfielder, but as long as they’re chasing the Red Sox for the American League East title, they’re not going to bench him so he can’t strike out.
All of this, of course, sounds bizarre. You bench a guy so he can’t break the strikeout record, but you want him in the lineup so he can help you overtake the Red Sox. That’s the kind of season it has been for Judge and the Yankees.
He leads the majors in strikeouts, but he also leads the league in home runs, walks and on-base and slugging percentages.
Judge would not want to sit and miss games for any reason, but he wouldn’t let a strikeout record sit him down. He is the prototype of today’s hitter, hitting home runs but also striking out frequently.
Judge had 196 strikeouts going into Sunday’s game. Babe Ruth never struck out 100 times in a season. His career highs were 93 and 90.
Reggie Jackson is the all-time strikeout king with 2,596 in his career, but never struck out 200 times in a season. His single-season high was 171, which he reached in his first full season in the majors.
Actually, opposing pitchers may take care of the Judge problem for the Yankees. They just keep walking him. He’s nowhere near the walk record.