Cleveland Indians‘ hopes for breaking the New York Giants‘ record for longest winning streak in MLB history is well and alive. After their 21st straight win set the American League record for most consecutive wins on Wednesday, Indians have beaten Kansas City Royals on Thursday. This means that with 22 consecutive wins, Indians are sole owners of the second longest streak in MLB history. Before the game, they were tied with Chicago White Stockings from 1880 and Chicago Cubs from 1935.
Still, Royals didn’t give up without a fight. Indians were close to losing the game since they trailed 2-1 in the 9th inning. Then, Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, and Jay Bruce stepped up and kept the streak alive. During this streak, Indians mostly dominated their opponent, which makes their latest win even more remarkable. Prior to the Thursday’s game against the Royals, Indians trailed in 4 innings out of 189, outscoring their opponents 139 to 35.
Now, Indians probably have one goal in their mind, and that is to keep the streak going and reach the 26 consecutive wins, which was only achieved by 1916 New York Giants so far.
There are some who claim that the Giants’ feat is flawed, and they may have a somewhat valid argument. New York Giants had 12 straight wins before meeting up with Pittsburgh Pirates. The game against the Pirates was ruled as a tie and was never played again like it should have. After that game, the Giants had 14 more consecutive wins. For Steve Hirdt, Major League Baseball’s official record keeper, there is no doubt that the 26 games winning streak by the New York Giants is valid. “It’s the longest winning streak, it’s the record for most consecutive wins, etc., because a tie game breaks neither a winning streak or losing streak for a team because it always gets replayed unless the season ends first.” – noted Hirdt.
Indians are now 4 games away from tying the record, and they will have a chance to make it 3 games on Friday when they’ll face Kansas City Royals once more.
