Mets chase 100 wins without a big winning streak

The 2022 Mets have won seven of their last eight games, one of their best streaks of the season in a year where it looks like they’ll win 100 games. While the Braves (in)famously had a 14-game winning streak earlier this year, the best the Mets have accomplished so far is to win seven in a row without a loss. But this year’s team is noted for the ability to avoid a long losing streak. Thru 152 games, the Mets have yet to lose four in a row.

Still, how odd is it for a team to win 100 games and have their longest winning streak be just seven?

Since the year 2000, there have been 30 teams to win at least 100 games in a season, including the 2022 Dodgers who have already reached that plateau. Here is the top winning streak for each of those teams:

22 – 2017 Indians
20 – 2002 A’s
15 – 2001 Mariners
12 – 2022 Dodgers
12 – 2018 Astros
11 – 2021 Rays
11 – 2017 Dodgers
11 – 2017 Astros
11 – 2016 Cubs
11 – 2001 A’s
10 – 2019 Astros
10 – 2018 Red Sox
9 – 2021 Giants
9 – 2021 Dodgers
9 – 2019 Yankees
9 – 2018 Yankees
9 – 2011 Phillies
9 – 2009 Yankees
9 – 2004 Cardinals
9 – 2003 Giants
8 – 2015 Cardinals
8 – 2004 Yankees
8 – 2003 Yankees
8 – 2003 Braves
7 – 2019 Dodgers
7 – 2008 Angels
7 – 2002 Yankees
7 – 2002 Braves
6 – 2019 Twins
6 – 2005 Cardinals

The results surprise me just a tiny bit. My expectation was that there would be more teams that won at least 100 games with at least a 10-game winning streak. But given that eight teams had a nine-game streak, perhaps my expectations weren’t too far off. Yet if the top end was more or less on target, the bottom end was more of a surprise.

My expectation was that the 2022 Mets’ streak of only seven games was going to be the worst. It was interesting to me that four other teams also topped out at seven straight and that two teams’ best streak was just six games. In hindsight, it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that other teams matched the 2022 Mets’ M.O. of avoiding long losing spells.

Perhaps the most surprising thing is that in the five-year span from 2010-2014, there was only one team to reach triple digits in wins – the 2011 Phillies. Since 2017, there have been multiple teams to win 100 or more games each full season, with 13 teams to reach at least 100 wins in the last four years with 162 games played. It’s a trend that should continue this year with the Dodgers already there and the Astros, Braves, Mets and Yankees all with a shot of reaching triple digits, too.

For the math majors, the mean winning streak of this group of 100-game winners this century is 10, while the median and the mode are both nine.

Of course, winning streaks aren’t the only way to judge top teams. It’s hard to rip off a bunch of consecutive wins but every team has a stretch where they win many more games than they lose. The bar is set higher for a club with 100 wins. But before we get to the 2022 Mets, let’s look at how other clubs in franchise history have done in this regard.

Back in 2011, we examined the best hot streaks in team history. The definition of a hot streak was one that contained at least 20 wins and the definition of best was the one with the highest winning percentage. Furthermore, each stretch had to be unique, so while you could potentially have more than one of these stretches in any given year, they could not contain any of the same victories. Here was the original list:

10. 1988, 28-8 (.778)
T8. 1969, 20-5 (.800)
T8. 2000, 20-5 (.800)
7. 1985, 30-7 (.811)
6. 1969, 26-6 (.813)
5. 1988, 23-5 (.821)
4. 1972, 24-5 (.828)
3. 1986, 20-4 (.833)
2. 1984, 21-4 (.840)
1. 1990, 20-2 (.909)

Since that first article was posted and through the end of last year, there’s been one team whose hot streak cracked the list. The 2019 Mets had a stretch where they went 21-5 for an .808 winning percentage, which placed them eighth on our list.

But what about this year?

The best the Mets have done was to go 20-6 between 7/24 – 8/20. But as good as that streak was, its .769 winning percentage isn’t enough to crack our list. Earlier it was mentioned that the Mets are 7-1 in their last eight games. With only 10 games remaining, that wouldn’t give them 20 wins, even if they won out. If we were to expand the current streak, the Mets are 11-5 in their last 16 games. If they sweep the last 10, that would make them 21-5, which would match the streak they had in 2019 and have them tied for eighth-best in franchise history.

Meanwhile, if the Mets win at least five of their remaining 10 games, they’ll have the second-most wins in franchise history. It’s been such an incredibly fun season, even if they didn’t rip off 14-straight wins or go 20-2. They’ve been good from start to finish, with several All-Star caliber players (even if they didn’t get selected) and an impressive number of above-average players to supplement the top of the roster. After not making the postseason in five straight years, it’s going to be great fun to watch the Mets in the playoffs with this particular team.