Orioles’ amazing AL East series streak is most impressive run of division-play era

Editor’s note: This is a Weird and Wild short. To read this week’s full Weird and Wild column, go here.

It was back on April 9, 2023, when this seemingly uneventful thing happened in Baltimore.

Why would we roll that back? Because that was the final out of the last series the Orioles lost against any of the four other teams in their division, the American League East. That was an incredible 432 days ago.

And what has happened since? Oh, only something historic and unfathomable: The Orioles have played 21 consecutive series against teams in their division without losing any of them.

They’ve won 15 of those series. They’ve split six. But to lose none of them — against teams this good? That’s astonishing.

So how historic and astonishing is it? I asked my friends from STATS Perform to take a look.

Since the dawn of division play — and the invention of the AL East — in 1969, only three other teams have navigated 21 consecutive series against their division without losing a series of any length.

So we’re just talking two incarnations of the fabled Big Red Machine, plus the Braves quasi-dynasty of the 1990s and early 2000s. And that’s it — kind of. If we want to overlook one-game “series,” we can add one more team — Robin Yount/Paul Molitor’s 1991-92 Brewers, then playing in the AL East. Their streak was also 21 in a row.

But that’s the whole list. Not pictured: the powerhouse 1998 Yankees, 2001 Mariners, 2018 Red Sox, 1986 Mets or any other behemoth you want to toss out there. It’s just four teams in more than half a century … plus these Orioles. And none of the other four got to 22 series in a row — while the Orioles’ streak remains alive and well.

Hold on, though. There’s more. The Orioles have won 15 of those 21 series. And the only other team on this list that won that many was the 1998-2000 Braves, who went 17-0-4. But now let’s dig in further — because we haven’t even gotten to the most important part:

I think you can make the case that this is the most impressive streak of the entire division-play era.

And how would we make that case? Easy. Just look at how good the other teams in the division were against everybody else.

(*through June 11)
(Source: STATS Perform) 

So those other four teams ripped off their streaks against teams that were 179 games under .500 against everyone else. The Orioles, on the other hand, have spun off their streak — and gone 46-22 against their division — while playing teams that have a better record over the last two years than the Astros … except while they’re playing the Orioles.

The point, then, is that not all streaks are created equal. And we’re just beginning to contemplate the magnitude of this streak.

But wait. This is about to get even better. Next week, from Tuesday through Thursday, the Orioles will try to become the first team in this era to extend one of these streaks to 22 series in a row … by rolling into Yankee Stadium to face the Yankees. Perfect.

Baseball! Writing one spectacular script after another, every week of every season.

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(Top photo of James McCann and Gunnar Henderson after a McCann home run against the Rays: Chris O’Meara / Associated Press)