Written by Zack Meisel at Cleveland.com
Cleveland produced some of the most prosperous major-league teams in recent memory from 1995-2001.
The offenses sizzled. The defenses dazzled.
None of those teams ever won 13 straight games, though.
The 2001 Tribe rattled off 10 straight victories in late April and early May. The 1995 Indians maxed out at nine straight wins en route to a 100-44 regular-season mark. The 1999 club won eight straight. The 1995 team also had a pair of seven-game streaks.
The 2016 Indians have established a new, modern standard. Here are 13 statistics from the Tribe’s 13-game winning streak.
1. The Indians’ streak matches the franchise record. The Indians also won 13 in a row from April 18-May 2, 1942, and from Aug. 2-15, 1951.
2. The Indians amassed a 22-6 record in June. It’s their best month since August 1954, when they went 26-6. The club advanced to the World Series that season. Perhaps the players will pretend Friday is June 31.
3. Cleveland could play .500 baseball the rest of the regular season and still finish with a 90-72 record. That would possibly be enough to win the division, too. The Royals, who sit in second place in the American League Central, would have to go 48-36 to reach the 90-win mark.
4. During the streak, Indians starting pitchers have posted a 1.86 ERA. They have limited the opposition to 55 hits in 97 innings.
5. No Tribe hurler has allowed more than three earned runs in a game during the winning streak.
Indians’ rotation is best bargain in baseball
Altogether, the five starters (and their combined 3.03 ERA) are earning about $13.68 million this season. That’s quite a bang for the Indians’ buck.
6. The Indians have scored first in 10 of the 13 games. They have scored in the first inning in seven of the 13. The Indians are 36-7 when they score first.
7. The Indians’ winning streak is the AL’s longest since the Oakland Athletics produced 20 consecutive victories late in the summer of 2002.
8. The Indians have outscored the opposition by an 80-26 margin during the 13 games.
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