Cleveland Indians riding one of the best streaks in franchise history

The Cleveland Indians have won ten games in a row and have done so in dominating fashion, outscoring their opponents 68-22 in those games. Their 6.8 runs scored per game are the highest among all thirty MLB teams since the streak began, and their 2.2 runs allowed per game are the lowest. Following their defeat on Wednesday, June 15, the Indians were tied with the Kansas City Royals for first place in the American League Central; the Indians now hold a five-game lead in the division.

The Tribe's current streak is the longest by any MLB team so far this season. The last time the Indians won ten games in a row during a season was when they posted the strongest finish to a regular season by any team in more than four decades by winning their last ten and grabbing a spot in the Wild Card Game. (They also won on Opening Day the next spring, so it was officially an 11-game winning streak.)

This streak is the 22nd time in franchise history the team has won at least ten regular season games in a row. The franchise record is 13 consecutive wins, accomplished in 1942 and again in 1951. The team had a 12-game streak in 1922, and had an 11-game streak in 1941, 1954, 1954 again, 1982, and then in 2013/2014. If the Indians win tonight, it would be the first time they'd won eleven straight games in the same season in 34 years.

The Indians have gotten two shutouts and a third complete game during the streak, as the starting pitching has continued one of its best seasons the Indians have ever seen. The offense has been even more impressive to me, though. They've had at least eight hits in every one of these ten games, making the Indians the first team since the 2006 Boston Red Sox to win ten games with at least that many hits in every one of them.

The streak began against the Chicago White Sox, in a series that included a couple low-scoring games. During the last seven games, the Tribe has scored at least six runs every time, their longest such streak since 2005, and only the 11th time in franchise history they've scored six or more runs in at least seven straight games.

The team "record" (I don't know that streaks using arbitrary benchmarks should be considered records, but you know what I mean) is 11 straight games with six or more runs, accomplished in 1932 and again in 2001. The Indians did it nine games in a row in 1920, and eight games in a row in 2001.

The ten-game winning streak has pushed the Tribe's record to 45-30, giving them a .600 winning percentage, something they haven't finished a season with since 1996. Their Pythagorean winning percentage, which is based on runs scored and allowed, is actually even better than their actual winning percentage. (This shouldn't be a big surprise, as the Indians currently have the second-best run differential in baseball.) It's currently at .619. The Indians have only finished with a Pythagorean W% that high four times in the last century: 1920, 1948, 1954, and 1995. Astute readers may recognize something else those four seasons all have in common: a trip to the World Series.