The Cleveland Indians shut out the Detroit Tigers 2-0 on Tuesday night behind yet another brilliant pitching performance from Corey Kluber to win their 20th in a row, which ties the 2002 Oakland A’s for the AL record for most consecutive victories.
The surging Indians are now 89-56, which is the best record in the AL, and they are closing in on the Dodgers for the best record in MLB. They also have a chance to set the new AL record for consecutive wins during Wednesday’s series finale against the Tigers. If they win that game, their 21 straight wins would tie them with the 1935 Cubs for the second-best win streak since 1900. The 1916 Giants have everyone beat with a streak of 26.
After Cleveland’s win on Tuesday, they received congratulations from the A’s via Twitter:
Crazy! Just plain crazy! Congratulations to the @Indians on joining the 20 Consecutive Club. #WINdians pic.twitter.com/HwZlkI0wym
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) September 13, 2017
The Indians have gotten to 20 straight wins thanks to equal parts dominance in pitching and hitting, with the club’s ERA being 1.60 during the streak, and the team collectively batting over .300.
20 wins
Pitching
1.60 ERA
183 K-34 BB
.206/.251/.289
Rot: 1.71 ERA
Bullpen: 1.34 ERAOffense
134 R
92 XBH
39 HR
.308/.387/.556RD: +102
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) September 13, 2017
Now that you’re caught up on Cleveland’s impressive streak, let’s take a look at the five coolest facts about their 20-game winning streak.
1. Cleveland has been more dominant than Oakland was in their 20-game streak (based on run differential).
Here's how the 20-game winning streaks in the AL stack up. Indians have thrown 7 shutouts in this span (A's had 2 during their streak). pic.twitter.com/l8tSzvD34F
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 13, 2017
2. The pitching has been incredible and posted seven shutouts during the streak — that’s over a third of the games!
Tribe pitching has recorded 7 shutouts during the winning streaks. For the season, they have an MLB-high 19.
— paul hoynes (@hoynsie) September 13, 2017
3. As good as the pitching has been during the streak, a previous Indians squad actually had a better stretch.
Cleveland has allowed 33 runs during the streak; it's the best 20-game stretch in MLB since the Indians allowed 28 runs in April/May 1968.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) September 13, 2017
4. The Indians as a team have hit more home runs than runs they’ve allowed in the 20 games!
Lindor has 30 homers. Also, #Indians now have 39 homers in winning streak. Opponents have 30 runs.
— Tom Withers (@twithersAP) September 12, 2017
5. Manager Terry Francona is superstitious, and he’s refusing to talk to a friend during the streak:
Tito has a friend he refuses to talk to other than via text because he's a "gray cloud" of bad luck. pic.twitter.com/OcaHS4EpyI
— Ryan Lewis (@RyanLewisABJ) September 13, 2017
Don’t pick up the phone yet, Tito — your team still has some work to do to set the new AL record and to surpass the 1916 Giants!
