What a ride the last two weeks have been. As the Cavaliers bring home the long lost holy grail, the Indians go on a 14-game win streak, the longest in this franchise’s 116-year history. The wild run brought a revival of Indian Fever in Northeast Ohio and put the team into the national spotlight.
Baseball’s lengthy 162-game schedule lends itself to hot (and cold) streaks for teams, but getting to double digits is a rare occurrence. Does a long win streak equate to long-term success? Here’s a look at the hottest stretches by the Wahoos over the last 40 years:
11 GAMES:
Started May 23, 1982 (78-84 final record): Lost seven of their next eight games. Andre Thornton (my childhood hero), Toby Harrah, Len Barker, and Rick Sutcliffe were the pillars of this club.
10 GAMES:
June 23, 1979 (81-80): This streak started the day that Dave Garcia was named manager. Bobby Bonds (Barry’s dad) starred with Thornton, Harrah and Mike Hargrove.
April 26, 1986 (84-78): They lost nine of the next 10 games, but a strong season full of young offensive stars (Cory Snyder, Joe Carter, Julio Franco) led to this fateful prediction…
That 1987 team was league worst 61-101.
June 11, 1994 (66-47): 2nd place when a players strike ended the season
April 28, 2001 (91-71): Division champions
April 3, 2002 (74-88): Followed streak by losing six-straight and 15 of 17
August 17, 2008 (81-81): The Eric Wedge era began its decline
OTHER LENGTHY HOT STREAKS:
April 6, 1988 (won 11 of 12 and 16 of 19): finished 78-84
June 3, 1995 (12 of 13 and 16 of 18) and August 18 (16 of 18): 100-44 (MLB best)
September 5, 2005 (13 of 14): 93-69 (lost of six of last seven to miss playoffs)
August 25, 2007 (11 of 12): 96-66 (American League best)
April 28, 2013 (18 of 22): 92-70 (wild card)
That list shows that hot streaks don’t always grow into great seasons. But the successful squads have a common ingredient: a balance of solid hitting, pitching and fielding, usually excelling in at least one of those categories.
The offenses of the ’94 and ’95 clubs were legendary, with names like Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, Eddie Murray, Carlos Baerga, and Jim Thome on the line up card. They also had gold glove winners in Omar Vizquel and Kenny Lofton taking away hits from the opposition, as well as a strong pitching staff that included Dennis Martinez, Orel Hershiser, Charles Nagy and Jose Mesa.
In 2001, Lofton and Vizquel were joined by gold glover Roberto Alomar. Alomar and Vizquel dazzled on a daily basis, making for arguably the best middle infield pairing in MLB history. Alomar also led a powerful offense alongside Thome and Juan Gonzalez. Bartolo Colon, C.C. Sabathia and Bob Wickman solidified the pitching staff.
The ’05 and ’07 squads had power bats of Travis Hafner, Jhonny Peralta, Victor Martinez and Grady Sizemore (who was a gold glover). In ’05, Sabathia, Cliff Lee and Jake Westbrook combined for 48 wins. In ’07, Sabathia and Fausto Carmona each won 19 games, while Joe Borowski had 45 saves.
So does the 2016 Indians have the streak and balance of these successful streakers of years past, or was this hot run just a high point in a rollercoaster ride to mediocrity?
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