List of Major League Baseball longest losing streaks

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 hold the record at 21 games. The longest ever losing streak consisting entirely of postseason games belongs to the Boston Red Sox, who following their historic loss in the 1986 World Series were swept in three consecutive postseason appearances from 1988 to 1995, losing a total of 13 games in a row.

The longest losing streak by a defending World Series Champion is 11 by both the 1998 Florida Marlins (Now Miami Marlins) (2x) 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

Streak

Regular season

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

Rank	Games	Team	Season(s)	Season record(s)	Date	Score	Opponent	Date	Score	Opponent
					Beginning (first defeat)			End (first victory)
1	26	Louisville Colonels	1889	27–111	May 22, 1889	2–11	Baltimore Orioles	June 23, 1889	7–3	St. Louis Browns
2	24	Cleveland Spiders	1899	20–134	August 26, 1899	1–2	New York Giants	September 18, 1899	5–4	Washington Senators
3 (tie)	23	Pittsburgh Alleghenys	1890	23–113	August 12, 1890	12–13	Chicago Colts	September 4, 1890	6–2	Cleveland Spiders
3 (tie)	23	Philadelphia Phillies	1961	47–107	July 29, 1961	3–4	San Francisco Giants	August 20, 1961	7–4	Milwaukee Braves
5	22	Philadelphia Athletics	1890	54–78	September 16, 1890	1–5	Baltimore Orioles	Folded^a	N/A	N/A
6	21	Baltimore Orioles	1988	54–107	April 4, 1988	0–12	Milwaukee Brewers	April 29, 1988	9–0	Chicago White Sox
7 (tie)	20	Louisville Colonels	1894	36–94	May 28, 1894	2–4	Pittsburgh Pirates	June 19, 1894	9–4	Pittsburgh Pirates
7 (tie)	20	Boston Americans	1906	49–105	May 1, 1906	0–8	New York Highlanders	May 25, 1906	3–0	Chicago White Sox
7 (tie)	20	Philadelphia Athletics	1916	36–117	July 21, 1916	2–7	Cleveland Indians	August 9, 1916	7–1	Detroit Tigers
7 (tie)	20	Philadelphia Athletics	1943	49–105	August 7, 1943	1–3	New York Yankees	August 24, 1943	8–1	Chicago White Sox
7 (tie)	20	Montreal Expos	1969	52–110	May 13, 1969	3–10	Houston Astros	June 8, 1969	4–3	Los Angeles Dodgers
12 (tie)	19	Boston Beaneaters	1906	49–102	May 17, 1906	0–2	Cincinnati Reds	June 9, 1906	6–3	St. Louis Cardinals
12 (tie)	19	Cincinnati Reds	1914	60–94	September 5, 1914	2–12	St. Louis Cardinals	September 23, 1914	3–0	Boston Braves
12 (tie)	19	Detroit Tigers	1975	57–102	July 29, 1975	2–4	New York Yankees	August 16, 1975	8–0	California Angels
12 (tie)	19	Kansas City Royals	2005	56–106	July 28, 2005	5–10	Tampa Bay Devil Rays	August 20, 2005	2–1	Oakland Athletics
16 (tie)	18	Cincinnati Reds	1876	9–56	July 11, 1876	2–8	New York Mutuals	August 25, 1876	3–1	Louisville Colonels
16 (tie)	18	Louisville Colonels^	1894	36–94	August 15, 1894	4–14	Philadelphia Phillies	September 6, 1894	15–10	Boston Beaneaters
16 (tie)	18	St. Louis Browns	1897	29–102	September 3, 1897	1–22	Baltimore Orioles	September 27, 1897	5–4	Cincinnati Reds
16 (tie)	18	Washington Senators	1903 1904	43–94 38–113	September 24, 1903	2–12	Cleveland Indians	May 5, 1904	9–4	New York Highlanders
16 (tie)	18	Philadelphia Athletics	1920	48–106	June 8, 1920	5–7	Cleveland Indians	June 28, 1920	6–2	Washington Senators
16 (tie)	18	Washington Senators	1948	56–97	September 3, 1948	2–6	New York Yankees	September 19, 1948	10–7	Chicago White Sox
16 (tie)	18	Washington Senators	1959	63–91	July 19, 1959	5–6 (10)	Kansas City Athletics	August 5, 1959	9–0	Cleveland Indians

Playoffs

This list contains only streaks consisting entirely of postseason games.

Rank	Games	Team	Season(s)	Date	Score	Opponent	Date	Score	Opponent
				Beginning (first defeat)			End (first victory)
1	13	Boston Red Sox	1986, 1988, 1990, 1995	October 25, 1986	5–6 (10)	New York Mets	September 29, 1998	11–3	Cleveland Indians
2	12	Minnesota Twins	2004, 2006, 2009–10	October 5, 2004	6–7 (10)	New York Yankees
3 (tie)	10	Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves	1958, 1969, 1982, 1991	October 6, 1958	0–7	New York Yankees	October 10, 1991	1–0	Pittsburgh Pirates
3 (tie)	10	Kansas City Royals	1980–81, 1984–85	October 19, 1980	3–4	Philadelphia Phillies	October 11, 1985	6–5	Toronto Blue Jays
5 (tie)	9	Texas Rangers	1996, 1998–99	October 2, 1996	4–5 (12)	New York Yankees	October 6, 2010	5–1	Tampa Bay Rays
5 (tie)	9	San Diego Padres	1998, 2005–06	October 17, 1998	6–9	New York Yankees	October 7, 2006	3–1	St. Louis Cardinals
5 (tie)	9	Chicago Cubs	2003, 2007–08	October 12, 2003	0–4	Florida Marlins	October 7, 2015	4-0	Pittsburgh Pirates
5 (tie)	9	Los Angeles Angels	2005, 2007–08	October 12, 2005	1–2	Chicago White Sox	October 5, 2008	5–4 (12)	Boston Red Sox
9 (tie)	7	Minnesota Twins	1965, 1969–70	October 14, 1965	0–2	Los Angeles Dodgers	October 7, 1987	8–5	Detroit Tigers
9 (tie)	7	San Francisco Giants	1989, 1997	October 14, 1989	0–5	Oakland Athletics	October 4, 2000	5–1	New York Mets
9 (tie)	7	Cincinnati Reds	1995, 2010	October 10, 1995	1–2 (10)	Atlanta Braves	October 6, 2012	5–2	San Francisco Giants

Regular season and playoffs

This list includes streaks that involve both regular season games and games which occurred in the playoffs.

Rank	Total games	Playoff games	Team	Season(s)	Season record(s)	Date	Score	Opponent	Date	Score	Opponent
						Beginning (first defeat)			End (first victory)
1	11	4	Boston Red Sox	1988 1989	89-73 83-79	September 30, 1988	2-4	Cleveland Indians	April 9, 1989	8-6	Kansas City Royals
2 (tie)	9	3	St. Louis Cardinals	1996 1997	88-74 73-89	October 14, 1996	0-14	Atlanta Braves	April 8, 1997	2-1	Montreal Expos
2 (tie)	9	3	Boston Red Sox	1995 1996	86-58 85-77	October 1, 1995	1-8	Milwaukee Brewers	April 7, 1996	3-1	Kansas City Royals
2 (tie)	9	4	New York Yankees	1963 1964	104-57 99-63	September 27, 1963	3-4	Minnesota Twins	April 19, 1964	5-3	Baltimore Orioles
5 (tie)	8	1	New York Yankees	2000*	87-74	September 25, 2000	4-15	Detroit Tigers	October 4, 2000	4-0	Oakland Athletics
5 (tie)	8	3	Los Angeles Dodgers	1996 1997	90-72 88-74	September 26, 1996	1-6	San Francisco Giants	April 2, 1997	5-1	Philadelphia Phillies
5 (tie)	8	4	Los Angeles Dodgers	1966 1967	95-67 73-89	October 5, 1966	2-5	Baltimore Orioles	April 18, 1967	7-2	Cincinnati Reds
5 (tie)	8	4	Pittsburgh Pirates	1927 1928	94-60 85-67	October 2, 1927	0-1	Cincinnati Reds	April 15, 1928	3-2	Cincinnati Reds
9 (tie)	7	3	Los Angeles Angels	2014 2015	98-64 85-67	September 26, 2014	3-4	Seattle Mariners	April 7, 2015	2-0	Seattle Mariners
9 (tie)	7	1	Cincinnati Reds	2013 2014	90-72 76-86	September 24, 2013	2-4	New York Mets	April 2, 2014	1-0	St. Louis Cardinals
9 (tie)	7	1	Tampa Bay Rays	2010 2011	96-66 91-71	October 12, 2010	1-5	Texas Rangers	April 8, 2011	9-7	Chicago White Sox
9 (tie)	7	3	Philadelphia Phillies	1976 1977	101-61 101-61	October 9, 1976	3-6	Cincinnati Reds	April 15, 1977	7-2	Montreal Expos
9 (tie)	7	4	Detroit Tigers^	1907 1908	92-58 90-63	October 6, 1907	4-10	St. Louis Browns	April 16, 1908	4-2	Chicago White Sox

Footnotes

• ^a The Philadelphia Athletics folded following the 1890 season without breaking their losing streak.

See also

• List of Major League Baseball longest winning streaks
• List of National Basketball Association longest losing streaks

References

• Baseball-Reference.com – Team Winning and Losing Streaks Analyzer