Rays tie record with 13 consecutive wins to start a season

The Tampa Bay Rays have tied the record for the most consecutive wins since the establishment of Major League Baseball.

On Friday, Tampa Bay secured a come-from-behind 9-3 victory over Boston in a home game, marking the start of an impressive 13-game winning streak. This feat is remarkable because since Major League Baseball implemented two-league system in 1901, only two other teams, Atlanta in 1982 and Milwaukee in 1987, have won 13 consecutive games at a season's start. If Tampa Bay manage to win their away game against Toronto on Saturday, they would be the first team in "modern MLB history" to achieve 14 consecutive wins at a season's start.

While compiling the history of the league from 1969, the MLB Secretariat recognized the National League (NL), American League (AL), American Association (AA), Union Association (UA), Federal League (FL), and Players League, all of which existed in the 19th century, as ‘major league.’

When expanding the scope to include these leagues, the St. Louis Maroons recorded an impressive 20 consecutive wins since the opening of the Union Association in 1884, which was its first season. However, the Union Association disappeared after just one season as two out of its eight teams ceased operating just two months after the start of the league. Due to this, many exclude the Union Association when discussing the history of MLB.

None of the Korean and Japanese professional baseball teams have had a longer winning streak than Tampa Bay's current 13-game streak. In Korea, Samsung's 10 consecutive wins in 2003 and SSG's in 2020 are the longest consecutive victories at a season's start. In Japan, Nishitetsu (now Seibu) set a record of 11 consecutive wins in 1954, while Chunichi achieved the same feat in 1999.

Tampa Bay's current 13-game winning streak is a new record for the team since its inception in 1998. “It's really fantastic," said Tempa Bay manager Kevin Cash. "The players have been performing exceptionally well. I feel that everything is going right for us at the moment.”


leper@donga.com