Winning streaks

Both the longest winning and losing streaks in Japan are at 18 games.

The longest winning streak record is shared by the 1954 Nankai Hawks (now Fukuoka Daiei Hawks) from August 22 through September 21, and the 1960 Taikai(?) Orions (now Chiba Lotte Marines) from June 5 through June 29.

The ancestors of the Orions, the Chiba Lotte Marines, lost 18 in a row from June 13 to July 8, 1998. I think that the Lotte fans, and all Pro Yakyu fans for that matter, really felt for Kuroki when he gave up that game deciding home run at Osaka Dome, then collapsed on the mound, sobbing. It was a very emotional losing streak that actually saw more than usual support from Lotte fans for their team.

While it wasn't in a row, as I mentioned here, the Lions won 21 games (to 5 losses) in the month of August. That's a pretty impressive record for a month in and of itself.

The 1954 Hawks didn't have any ties during their winning streak, but surprisingly, outscored opponents by only 70-37, so their average margin of victory was less than two runs. The 1960 Orions tied the Braves, 1-1, in the first game of a doubleheader on June 26 at Korakuen Stadium. They had no other ties during their streak, and outscored opponents, 92-44. The 1998 Marines tied the Lions, 5-5, at Fujidera Stadium on June 30, but had no other ties. They were outscored by 126-73 during their dubious streak.

I made a careless error in my previous post. The tie between the Marines and Lions in 1998 actually occurred at Fukui Prefectural Baseball Field, not at Fujidera Stadium.

Oh, yea. My reference, the 2002 Baseball Record Book, doesn't mention if there were any ties in those records. If memory serves correctly, Lotte did tie once during their '98 losing streak. Can anyone confirm that?

I believe that you are correct. By the way, wasn't the consecutive losses record held by Yakult at one time before Lotte broke it?

That's right. Yakult lost 16 in a row from August 4 to August 25, 1970, which still stands as the Central League record.

Dai-Tokyo of 1936 also lost 16 games in a row from September 28 through November 22 for the One League era worst.

Five teams have lost 15 in a row.