By now, we think everyone knows that the Cleveland Indians are on a 19 game winning streak, and tonight they will attempt to tie the American League record of 20 straight wins, set by the Oakland A’s in 2002.
Those are the A’s portrayed in the movie “Moneyball”.
There are a lot of remarkable numbers and statistics that go along with the streak, but in our opinion, the one that stands out is that the Tribe has allowed just 32 runs during the 19 victories, and six of those came in the first win, against Boston.
That means over the next 18 contests, opponents have scored just 26 runs, an average of only 1.4 per game.
No matter what kind of team you have, you will win a lot of games if you only have to get two runs to win.
However, Terry Francona’s crew has scored more than two runs per game, they have scored 132 runs during the streak, averaging 6.9 runs per game.
That also computes to a run differential of 100 runs in these games. With the Indians leading the AL in that category, the second place team is the Yankees, and they have scored 152 more runs than their opponents…for the entire season.
At the All Star break, it seemed impossible that the Tribe could get the best record in the AL and thus have home field advantage in the league playoffs, but right now, they have that distinction right now, although there is still three weeks on the schedule.
Even with that record, according to their run differential on the season, Cleveland is below where they should be record wise, their real mark being 88-56, while their Pythagorean win/loss is 94-50.
More numbers that boggle your mind. The Indians’ pitching staff have six shutouts in the 19 games. They have only one three one-run games, while only two others have been decided by two runs.
This means there have only been five close games in the bunch.
By contrast, Francona’s squad has won four games by 10 or more runs, and in total have emerged victorious by five or more runs in eight contests.
Eleven of the wins came on the road, meaning eight have come at home. They had an overall scoreless streak of 30 innings, starting in game one vs. Boston, and ended by Corey Kluber, of all people.
They carried a 37 inning scoreless skein at Progressive Field, which just ended last Saturday afternoon against the Orioles.
Mike Clevinger has not allowed a run during the streak, making three starts, and pitching six scoreless innings in each of them.
Trevor Bauer has four wins, Kluber and Clevinger have won three, while Carlos Carrasco, Josh Tomlin, and Ryan Merritt have two victories.
Cleveland’s magic number was 33 before they stopped losing, and it is now six. There is a real possibility the Indians could have a champagne celebration before they leave town on Sunday night.
Perhaps the craziest thing is that Michael Brantley, Jason Kipnis, and Andrew Miller haven’t made an appearance on the field during this span. That speaks to the depth the front office has accumulated this season.
Because of the streak, Jay Bruce has been on the roster for 33 games, and the Indians are 28-5.
It’s a remarkable run for this baseball team, and it keeps on going. After a season with mixed results for four months, the Tribe is the talk of baseball right now.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 