Lynch: Let’s go streaking! Evaluating hitting streaks in each team’s history
From SABR member Mike Lynch at The National Pastime Museum on September 27, 2016:
When Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts ripped a first-inning single to left field off Colorado Rockies hurler Jon Gray on May 26, he extended his hitting streak to 19 games. Bogaerts’s streak would have been more impressive were teammate Jackie Bradley not on an historic 29-game streak that had him one game from tying Tris Speaker and Nomar Garciaparra for second place on the Red Sox’s all-time batting streak list. Had he reached 30 straight games only Dom DiMaggio’s 34-game streak in 1949 would have stood between Bradley and “Olde Towne” history.
Alas, Bradley, leading off for the first time all year to increase his odds of getting more opportunities to extend his streak, went 0 for 4 against Gray, and his streak ended at 29, tying him with Johnny Damon for third place in Red Sox history.
With Bradley sitting at 29 and Bogaerts at 18, a fellow Red Sox fan wondered how many other teammates in baseball history had enjoyed similar streaks. Bogaerts’s streak went to 26 games before it was broken on June 3 against Toronto, and he tied Boston icon Johnny Pesky for seventh place in Red Sox history.
Read the full article here: http://www.thenationalpastimemuseum.com/article/let-s-go-streaking
Originally published: September 27, 2016. Last Updated: September 27, 2016.