Looking Back on the Dodgers' 42-8 Spurt this Past Season

I've done a lot of tweeting about streak-related developments over the past few months (see link to my Twitter feed in the right-hand column), rather than writing deeper analyses. However, I've now conducted a detailed analysis of the L.A. Dodgers' 42-8 spurt midway through the 2013 season (one of best 50-game stretches in MLB history). My article is available at the baseball website Seamheads.com.

It's Official! Pirates Get First Winning Season Since 1992

The Pittsburgh Pirates won their 82nd game of the season last night, 1-0 over the Texas Rangers, to ensure the Steel City franchise's first winning (above .500) season since 1992. The Pirates' streak of 20 straight losing seasons was the longest such streak in any of the four major sports leagues in North America (MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL).

I created the following graphic to indicate how many wins the Pirates attained from 1993 (the year the string of losing seasons began) to the present. The break-even point of 81 wins is highlighted. Unless you have amazing eyesight, you'll probably want to click on the graphic to enlarge it.

Congratulations to the Pirates and their fans. Not only has this year's team ended the franchise's record streak of losing seasons; it is a virtual cinch to make the playoffs (Pittsburgh's probability of making the playoffs is currently listed as 98.7% on ESPN's standings). I like that the Pirates have achieved a winning record relatively early, rather than taking things down to the final days of the season.

Red Sox P Koji Uehara Has Retired 27 Straight Batters

On a night when San Francisco Giant pitcher Yusmeiro Petit came within one strike of a perfect game, there actually was another pitcher the same evening who retired his 27th straight batter (the conceptual equivalent of a perfect game).

That pitcher is Boston Red Sox reliever Koji Uehara, whose string of getting batters out has accumulated over nine appearances, most recently tonight against the New York Yankees. The following graphic (on which you can click to enlarge) displays the opposing teams, dates, batters, and types of out during Uehara's streak.

What's interesting is that almost exactly a year ago, Uehara, then pitching for the Texas Rangers, retired 25 straight hitters. One criterion for being considered a streaky performer, according to some analysts, is the ability to record hot stretches on repeated occasions. Uehara thus seems able to get "on a roll," "in the zone," "on fire," or any similar term one chooses.

The records for consecutive batters retired by a pitcher are 45 by Mark Buehrle (for a starter) and 41 by Bobby Jenks (for a reliever). Uehara still has a way to go to catch these marks. However, having separate streaks of 25 and (at least) 27, as Uehara has done, is extremely impressive.

UPDATE 1: Bob Timmermann informed me that, "Kenley Jansen of the Dodgers also retired 27 straight batters this year from July 23 to August 8." Here's an article on Jansen's background and accomplishments.

UPDATE 2: Uehara's streak reached 37 straight batters retired, until being snapped in a September 17 game against the Baltimore Orioles.

Pirates Win 81st, End Streak of 20 Straight Losing Seasons

The Pittsburgh Pirates have won again tonight (4-3 at Milwaukee), bringing their record to 81-57 for the season. They cannot end with a losing (sub-.500) record, with 81-81 being the worst record they can possibly end up with. The Pirate franchise's streak of 20 straight losing seasons is now over and it looks like Pittsburgh will finish well above .500, with 24 games left to play. We've been charting the Pirates' wins as they closed in on .500 and here is the latest entry...

Pirates Reach 80 Wins

A 5-2 win today at Milwaukee has brought the Pittsburgh Pirates to an 80-57 record on the season. One more win will ensure at least a break-even 81-81 for the Pirates and another win after that (82) will ensure a winning (above .500) record. The last time Pittsburgh recorded a winning record was 1992. I am tracking the Pirates' win total until they reach 82...

Pirates' Quest for First Winning Record Since 1992

With tonight's 7-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Pirates advanced their record to 79-56. With 27 games left on the Pirates' schedule, it is a virtual certainty that they will win 82 or more games this season to clinch the franchise's first winning record (i.e., above a .500 winning percentage) after 20 straight years of losing records. I will track Pittsburgh's quest for a winning record on the following chart.

Dodgers Now 42-8 in Last 50 Games

With their 5-0 victory tonight in Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Dodgers have now recorded 42 wins in their last 50 games after, unbelievably it seems, starting off the season 30-42. It is truly an amazing turnaround.

Winning this many -- or more -- times in any 50-game MLB stretch is a very rare occurrence, especially in recent decades. This online Sports Illustrated article includes charts documenting the all-time best records over 50 (and 45) games. The all-time best record over 50 contests is held by the 1906 Chicago Cubs at 45-5, followed by the 1912 New York Giants at 43-7. At 42-8, the Dodgers are tied for third-best, with the 1941 New York Yankees and 1942 St. Louis Cardinals.

According to the SI chart, only four post-1954 squads other than this year's Dodgers have won at least 40 out of 50 games: the 1975 Cincinnati Reds and 1998 New York Yankees (41-9), and the 1977 Kansas City Royals and 2001 Seattle Mariners (40-10). The Oakland A's 2001 game-by-game log at Baseball Reference appears to show them going 40-10 within multiple 50-game stretches in the season (e.g., from having a 55-49 record at one point to later having a 95-59 record), but SI doesn't list them. By examining the logs of teams that had won 100 games in a season over roughly the past 15 years, I also discovered two teams that just missed 40-10; in 2002, the A's and Atlanta Braves each had a 39-11 stretch.

Looking at the six 50-game stretches of 39-11 or better from 1998 to the present, there does not seem to be any consistent pattern in terms of when during the season the team got hot. The 1998 Yankees got hot very early in the season; after starting off 1-4, the next thing you knew they were 42-13. The 2001 Mariners also got rolling early on, building upon a 7-2 start to advance their record to 47-12. The 2002 Braves' 39-11 stretch (from 25-24 to 64-35) and the 2013 Dodgers' 42-8 spurt both were during the middle of the season. Finally, the Oakland A's two hot stretches (40-10 in 2001 and 39-11 in 2002) were both in the run-up to the end of the season.