The Cleveland Indians’ 22-game win streak came to an end Friday night following a 4-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals. Their streak will go down as the second-longest in MLB history behind the 1916 New York Giants’ 26-game win streak.
The Indians weren’t able to salvage the win streak on Friday like they did on Thursday. In that game, they faced 101 pitches when trailing. They had faced a total of 85 pitches when trailing in their first 21 wins of their streak.
During the win streak, the Indians outscored their opponents by 105 runs. According to Elias Sports Bureau research, Cleveland is the fifth team with a run differential that large over a 22-game span in a single season since 1900 and the first since the 1939 Yankees.
You don’t win 22 straight games without everyone chipping in at the plate. Twelve players drove in at least five runs and six players had at least 10 RBI, led by Francisco Lindor’s 20.
The Indians had 17 different players record an extra-base hit during the streak, the most in the majors over that span.
They hit an MLB-high 41 home runs during the win streak, the most by any team during any win streak in MLB history, according to Elias Sports Bureau research. Cleveland had more home runs than runs allowed (37) in this stretch.
They used 18 different pitchers during the win streak. Over that span 15 pitchers had a sub-3.00 ERA, 13 had a sub-2.00 ERA and seven did not allow a run (34 combined appearances).
Seven of their 22 wins came via shutout, the most in the majors over their win streak. Cleveland’s seven shutouts during the streak are more than the season total of 13 other teams entering Friday’s slate of games.
The Indians made it a habit of pouncing on their opponents early and often. They outscored their opponents 69-14 in the first three innings during their win streak, outscoring their opponents by 2.5 runs in the first three innings, the best differential in the majors over that span.
At the plate, Cleveland led the majors in BA (.329), OBP (.401) and slugging (.587) in the first three innings and led after three innings in 16 of the 22 games.