List of Major League Baseball longest losing streaks explained

This is a list of the longest team losing streaks in Major League Baseball history. Streaks started at the end of one season are carried over into the following season. Two lists are provided—one with streaks that consist entirely of regular-season games and one with streaks of playoff games only.

The 1889 Louisville Colonels hold the record for the longest losing streak in official MLB history at 26 games, though the 1875 Brooklyn Atlantics lost 31 consecutive games in the National Association, a number that is not considered official by MLB. In the modern two-league era, the longest losing streak belongs to the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies at 23 games. In the American League, the 1988 Baltimore Orioles and 2024 Chicago White Sox hold the record at 21 games. The longest losing streak consisting entirely of postseason games is 18, belonging to the Minnesota Twins (2004–2023).

The longest losing streak by a defending World Series Champion is 11, by the 1998 Florida Marlins and the 1986 Kansas City Royals.

Key

^Denotes streaks that included unofficial ties
Denotes streaks that spanned over two seasons
Denotes streaks that are currently in progress
Denotes season in which team won the World Series

Streak

Regular season

This list contains only the top 20 streaks consisting entirely of regular-season games.

RankGames LostTeamSeason(s)Season
record(s)		DateScoreOpponentDateScoreOpponent
Beginning (first defeat)End (first victory)
126Louisville Colonels27–1112–11Baltimore Orioles7–3St. Louis Browns
224Cleveland Spiders20–1341–2New York Giants5–4Washington Senators
3 23Pittsburgh Alleghenys23–11312–13Chicago Colts6–2Cleveland Spiders
3 23Philadelphia Phillies47–1073–4San Francisco Giants7–4Milwaukee Braves
522Philadelphia Athletics54–781–5Baltimore OriolesFoldedN/AN/A
6 21Baltimore Orioles54–1070–12Milwaukee Brewers9–0Chicago White Sox
6 21Chicago White Sox41–1212–3Minnesota Twins5–1Oakland Athletics
8 20Louisville Colonels36–942–4Pittsburgh Pirates9–4Pittsburgh Pirates
8 20Boston Americans49–1050–8New York Highlanders3–0Chicago White Sox
8 20Philadelphia Athletics36–1172–7Cleveland Indians7–1Detroit Tigers
8 20Philadelphia Athletics49–1051–3New York Yankees8–1Chicago White Sox
8 20Montreal Expos52–1103–10Houston Astros4–3Los Angeles Dodgers
13 19Boston Beaneaters49–1020–2Cincinnati Reds6–3St. Louis Cardinals
13 19Cincinnati Reds60–942–12St. Louis Cardinals3–0Boston Braves
13 19Detroit Tigers57–1022–4New York Yankees8–0California Angels
13 19Kansas City Royals56–1065–10Tampa Bay Devil Rays2–1Oakland Athletics
13 19Baltimore Orioles52–1101–13New York Yankees10–6Los Angeles Angels
18 18Cincinnati Reds9–562–8New York Mutuals3–1Louisville Grays
18 18Louisville Colonels^36–944–14Philadelphia Phillies1510Boston Beaneaters
18 18St. Louis Browns29–1021–22Baltimore Orioles5–4Cincinnati Reds
18 18Washington Senatorsdata-sort-value=1903
43–94
38–113		2–12Cleveland Indians9–4New York Highlanders
18 18Philadelphia Athletics48–1065–7Cleveland Indians6–2Washington Senators
18 18Washington Senators56–972–6New York Yankees10–7Chicago White Sox
18 18Washington Senators63–915–6 Kansas City Athletics9–0Cleveland Indians

Playoffs

This list contains only streaks consisting entirely of postseason games.

RankGamesTeamSeason(s)DateScoreOpponentDateScoreOpponent
Beginning (first defeat)End (first victory)
118Minnesota Twins2004, 2006, 2009–2010, 2017, 2019–20206–7 New York Yankees3–1Toronto Blue Jays
213Boston Red Sox,,, 19955–6 New York Mets11–3Cleveland Indians
311Philadelphia Phillies,, 1–2Boston Red Sox7–5Los Angeles Dodgers
4 10Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves,,, 0–7New York Yankees1–0Pittsburgh Pirates
4 10Kansas City Royals–1981, –3–4Philadelphia Phillies6–5Toronto Blue Jays
4 102014, 2016, 2023–2024October 10, 20146–8Kansas City RoyalsActive
7 9Texas Rangers1996, 1998–19994–5 New York Yankees5–1Tampa Bay Rays
7 9San Diego Padres, 2005–20066–9New York Yankees3–1St. Louis Cardinals
7 9Chicago Cubs, 2007–20080–4Florida Marlins4–0Pittsburgh Pirates
7 9 Los Angeles Angels, 2007–20081–2Chicago White Sox5–4 Boston Red Sox
11 8Cleveland Indians/Guardians2017–2018, 2020October 8, 20170–1New York YankeesOctober 7, 20222–1Tampa Bay Rays

World Series

This list contains only streaks consisting entirely of World Series games.

RankGamesTeamSeason(s)DateScoreOpponentDateScoreOpponent
Beginning (first defeat)End (first victory)
1 8New York Yankees,, 5–8New York Giants4–2New York Giants
1 8Philadelphia Phillies, 1–2Boston Red Sox7–6Kansas City Royals
1 8Atlanta Braves, 2–5New York Yankees6–2Houston Astros
4 7San Diego Padres, 2–5Detroit Tigers
4 7Detroit Tigers, 0–5St. Louis Cardinals
6 6Detroit Tigers, 1–3Chicago Cubs8–3Chicago Cubs
6 6St. Louis Cardinals, 1–4New York Yankees5–0Philadelphia Athletics
6 6Chicago Cubs, 8–10Philadelphia Athletics3–0Detroit Tigers
6 6Cleveland Indians, 2–5 New York Giants7–6 Atlanta Braves
6 6Cincinnati Reds, 2–3New York Yankees6–5Baltimore Orioles
6 6Los Angeles Dodgers, 1–5New York Yankees5–4New York Yankees
6 6New York Yankees, 4–5Los Angeles Dodgers5–2Atlanta Braves
6 6St. Louis Cardinals, 5–11Minnesota Twins7–2Detroit Tigers

Footnotes

See also

References

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "List of Major League Baseball longest losing streaks".

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