A double in the sixth inning Sunday extended Lucas Duda’s streak or reaching base to 20 games. It’s the career-best mark for Duda and he has moved past Josh Thole for the second-longest streak this season, trailing only the 23-game stretch posted earlier by David Wright. It got me wondering what the longest streak in team history is.
It turns out that I was unable to find the career leader, much less a top-10 list, anywhere online. While I found out without even looking for it that ex-Met Gary Sheffield is the career leader for the Braves with a streak of 52, I was unable to find out who held the same place for the Mets.
Baseball-Reference.com, on its game log pages for individual players, lists what their best streak for a given season is. I went through the names of players I thought might be among the best ever for the Mets and compiled the following list. It’s important to note that this list is not complete or definitive. I didn’t check Rey Ordonez, for example, so if he posted an extended streak, it’s not here.
But if nothing else this is a start. Below are all of the players I found with a streak of 30 or more games where they reached base safely.
46 – Darryl Strawberry (1987)
43 – John Olerud (1999)
37 – Jose Reyes (2008)
33 – Kevin McReynolds (1988)
32 – Keith Hernandez (1983)
32 – Carlos Beltran (2006)
32 – Beltran (2011)
31 – Tommie Agee (1970)
31 – Rusty Staub (1973)
31 – Strawberry (1990)
31 – Lance Johnson (1996)
31 – Moises Alou (2007)
30 – Hernandez (1984)
30 – Beltran (2008)
Strawberry’s streak seems very impressive until you consider that the MLB record is the 84 straight by Ted Williams in 1949.
Duda has quite a ways to go before he cracks the top 10 for the Mets. Still, it’s a nice measure of consistency and shows how Duda is living up to the high expectations many had for him coming into the season. He has a .923 OPS during the streak and for the season Duda’s OPS checks in at .790, good for a 120 OPS+.
And if you find a list of the longest streaks elsewhere, please post a link in the comments section. Also, if you know someone else had a streak of 30+, please let me know that, too. But don’t just give me guesses. Please don’t say – What about Bernard Gilkey in 1996? I checked Mr. Gilkey and his longest streak that year was 15 games.
This is why it infuriates me when FOX handles the broadcasting duties for Mets games because they were talking about Duda being only a power guy, comparing him to guys like Adam Dunn. DUNN AND DUDA ARE NOTHING ALIKE!! Duda can hit a pitcher’s pitch for a single to continue the rally where Dunn would strike out.
As long as they compare him to 2012 Dunn (.944 OPS) and not 2011 Dunn (.569 OPS) I can live with it. BTW, Dunn’s longest on-base streak is 28 games.
I agree. It’s the worst to be picked for a nationally televised ESPN or FOX game.
Those announcers don’t know shit about the team (not that i blame them) because they don’t follow and watch them everyday like our SNY crew.
Of course they won’t do this because of contracts and stuff, but it would be nice if they paired both teams color commentators with whatever play-by-play guy they want. It would make the game more enjoyable because i can’t stand McCarver, Buck, Francona, Hershieser.
I am an out of state fan and get my games from mlb.com. The home games are from SNY and are superior to any other broadcast, audio and visual. The away games are from the other teams broadcast and sometimes it is very interesting to hear what other teams are saying about players on the team. It puts into perspective what you read and hear in the everyday NY press. This information could be useful when another team values a player more than the Mets do.
How about Mike Vail (I think the spelling is right), didn’t he have a great stretch during his rookie year. While his career wasn’t great I think he had a great stretch during his rookie year….
Vail just missed at 29 games.