Winning streak (sports)

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In sports, a winning streak refers to a consecutive number of games won. The smallest "winning streak" is 2 consecutive wins. A winning streak can be held by a team, as in baseball, football, basketball, hockey, or by an individual, as in tennis. A winning streak that extends through a single season is known as a perfect season.

The longest winning streak in any professional sports may have been Jahangir Khan's 555 consecutive wins in squash from 1981 to 1986. Currently, Esther Vergeer is on a 326-game winning streak in wheelchair tennis since January 30, 2003, which included a streak of 250 consecutive sets won.

A winning streak is not to be confused with an unbeaten streak, where teams can tie as well as win and keep their streak. For example, if a soccer team wins four games in a row, plays a draw, wins three more, plays two draws in a row, and then loses, they had a 10 game unbeaten streak. Their longest winning streak in this sequence was four.

1 Record winning streaks
2 See also
3 References

[edit] Record winning streaks

[edit] Boxing

49 wins -- 1952-1956 Rocky Marciano

Note: Rocky Marciano remains the only heavyweight champion in boxing history to retire having won every fight in his professional career.

[edit] Canadian Football League

22 games -- 1948-1949 Calgary Stampeders

Streak started August 25, 1948
Streak ended October 22, 1949

Note: The streak only includes the regular season. It was also achieved back when the Stampeders played in the Western Interprovincial Football Union, which later became the Canadian Football League West Division.

[edit] Chess - XIX century

25 games -- from 1873 to 1882 Wilhelm Steinitz

[edit] Chess - Modern era

20 games -- Bobby Fischer 1970-1971 (against the world top players - in the Interzonal and Candidates matches)

[edit] College Baseball

NCAA Division I: 34 games, done by Texas in 1977 and Florida Atlantic in 1999
NCAA Division II: 46 games, done by Savannah St. in 2000
NCAA Division III: 44 games, done by Trinity College (Connecticut) in 2008

[edit] College Basketball

88 games -- 1971 - 1974 UCLA Bruins

Streak started January 30, 1971
Streak ended January 19, 1974 (ended by Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 70-71)

[edit] College Football

55 games -- 2000-2003 Mount Union College

Streak started September 2, 2000 (defeated Allegheny College, 48-21)
Streak ended December 20, 2003 (defeated by St. John's (MN) 24-6)

Note: This streak includes playoff games. Mount Union also holds the record for most consecutive regular season victories, winning 110 games between 1994-2005.

[edit] College Soccer (Women's)

169 games -- 1986 - 1990 North Carolina

Streak started September 30, 1986
Streak ended September 17, 1990

[edit] College Swimming (Men's)

20 dual meet wins -- 2000 - 2003 Stanford University

Special note: Since 1980, Kenyon College has won 29 consecutive men's swimming championships, the most total consecutive championships won at any level of sports in the world.

[edit] Cricket (Test)

16 matches -- 1999-2001 Australia

Streak started on 17 October 1999 (defeated Zimbabwe by 10 wickets at Harare) (scorecard)
Streak ended on 15 March 2001 (lost to India by 171 runs at Calcutta) (scorecard)

[edit] Cricket (ODI)

21 matches -- 2003 Australia

Streak started on 11 January 2003 (defeated England by 7 runs at Hobart) (scorecard)
Streak ended on 25 May 2003 (lost to West Indies by 39 runs at Port of Spain) (scorecard)

[edit] Football (soccer) (international)

14 games (tie):

- Brazil

Streak started June 10, 1997 (defeated England, 1-0)
Streak ended December 14, 1997 (draw against Australia, 0-0)

- France

Streak started March 29, 2003 (defeated Malta, 6-0)
Streak ended March 31, 2004 (draw against the Netherlands, 0-0)

Note: The winning streaks listed are the longest ones achieved after World War II

[edit] Formula One

7 wins -- 2004 -- Michael Schumacher

Streak started May 30, 2004
Streak ended August 29, 2004

[edit] High school badminton

504 games -- 1973-2005 Miller Place High School

Streak started 1973
Streak ended April, 2005 by Smithtown High School

[edit] High school basketball

159 games -- 1919-1925 Passaic High School

Streak started December 17, 1919
Streak ended February 6, 1925 (ended by Hackensack Hill High School, 35-39)

[edit] High school football

151 games -- 1992-2003 De La Salle High School

Streak started?
Streak ended September 4, 2004 (ended by Bellevue High School)

[edit] High school water polo (girls)

222 matches -- 2001-present Gulliver Preparatory, FL

Streak started 2001
Streak continues (eight straight Florida championships)^[1]

[edit] High school wrestling

459 matches -- 1974-2005 Brandon High School, FL

Streak started January 28, 1974
Streak ended January 8, 2008 (ended by South Dade High School)

[edit] Horse racing

Horse -- 56 races -- 1953-1955 Camarero [1]

Streak started April 19, 1953
Streak ended August 1, 1955

Jockey -- 9 races (tied) -- September 10-12, 1930 Albert Adams and July 30-31, 1993 Tony Black

[edit] Major League Baseball

[edit] Longest winning streak by a team

21 games (tie):

- 1880 Chicago White Stockings

Streak started June 5, 1880 (defeated Providence Grays, 6-3)
Streak ended July 10, 1880 (ended by Cleveland Blues, 0-2)

- 1935 Chicago Cubs

Streak started September 4, 1935 (defeated Philadelphia Phillies, 8-2)
Streak ended September 28, 1935 (ended by St. Louis Cardinals, 5-7)

Note: The 1916 New York Giants won 26 consecutive games from September 7 to September 30. However, the Giants tied the Pirates in the second game of a doubleheader on September 18 1-1. Major League Baseball treats all games which end in ties as if those games had never existed.

[edit] Longest winning streak by a pitcher

24 consecutive winning decisions -- Carl Hubbell, New York Giants

Streak started July 17, 1936 (defeated Pittsburgh Pirates)
Streak ended May 30, 1937 (ended by Brooklyn Dodgers)

Note: Hubbell's streak was achieved in 27 games as he also pitched three no-decisions.

[edit] NASCAR

5 wins -- by Richard Petty 1971 and Bobby Allison 1971

[edit] National Basketball Association

33 games -- 1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers

Streak started November 05, 1971 (defeated Baltimore Bullets, 110-106)
Streak ended January 7, 1972 (ended by Milwaukee Bucks, 120-104)

[edit] National Football League

21 games -- 2006-present New England Patriots

Streak started December 17, 2006 (defeated Houston Texans, 40-7)
Streak ended February 3, 2008 (ended by New York Giants, 17-14)

Special Note: The NFL only recognizes consecutive win streaks based upon consecutive regular season wins, not exhibition or playoff losses. The all time consecutive win streak (including playoff games) is 21, by the New England Patriots, from Oct. 5, 2003 (a 38-30 win over Tennessee) until Oct. 31, 2004 (a 34-20 loss to Pittsburgh).

[edit] National Hockey League

[edit] Longest winning streak by a team

17 games -- 1992-1993 Pittsburgh Penguins

Streak started March 9, 1993 (defeated Boston Bruins, 3-2)
Streak ended April 10, 1993 (ended by New Jersey Devils, 6-6†)

†Pittsburgh tied New Jersey 6-6 on April 10, 1993 to end the regular season. They won an additional three games to start the 1993 playoffs before losing for the first time in 21 games on April 25, 1993 to New Jersey, 1-4.