Losing Streaks In Baseball

Losing Streaks In Baseball!

Losing is a funny thing in baseball. If a team loses early in a baseball season, it is said that the team is getting off to a bad start. If a team loses in the middle of a season, it's having a slump. If it loses down the stretch, the team has choked. Sometimes these unfortunate losses pile up, one after another, and becoming a losing streak. When that happens, losing is not so funny. In fact, it can make people crazy.

Anthony Young's 23 Game Losing Streak

Why would 36,911 people waste a beautiful day watching the pitiful 1993 New York Mets play a meaningless baseball game? They wanted to witness history. Luckily, New York pitcher Anthony Young did not disappoint them, as he shattered Cliff Curtis's 82 year old record 23 game losing streak, by losing a 5-3 decision to the St. Louis Cardinals. Anthony Young ended up losing another three games before finally registering his first win in over a year.

Philadelphia Phillies 23 Game Losing Streak

When the Philadelphia Phillies lost 10 consecutive MLB baseball games early in 1961, they had hoped that the worst part of the season was behind them. It wasn't They dropped 23 straight games during the summer, setting a record that stands to this day. The manager tried everything to snap the team out of its losing streak, including trashing the team's curfew! After loss #19, he threatened to fine any player he caught going to bed before dawn. Just his luck, the next day's game went into extra innings and his tired team just couldn't hang on, blowing a two run lead and giving up the winning tally on two walks and an error.

Baltimore Orioles Hiring a Wizard?

"You know, some of your best streaks start after games like this," said Baltimore Orioles GM Roland Hemond after his team dropped its last five spring training games and then got blown out 12-0 on opening day in 1988. Twenty games later, the Baltimore Orioles had broken the previous Major League Baseball record for losses to start a season, and they stood at 0-21. Then the "Amazing Kreskin" was employed to cast a telepathic spell. Whether it was the wizard's doing or not, the Baltimore Orioles finally beat the Chicago White Sox to end it's losing streak.