With the Mets having won their last nine games, it occurred to me that I couldn’t recall the Mets ever winning ten games. Now, I’m only 25 years old, so that isn’t inconceivable, but it did get me wondering about winning streaks. By now, you’ve probably all heard that the last time the Mets won nine in a row was 2000, the last time they won ten in a row was 1991 (1991? Really? A team that went 77-84?), and the team record is eleven games. But how impressive has the current streak been in the context of team history? Other than what I’ve just said, I had no idea.

Here are the longest streaks in team history:

Year    Beg Date    End Date     Length
1984     Jul 05      Jul 14           8
1986     Jun 25      Jul 04           8
1988     Sep 14      Sep 22           8
2006     Jun 07      Jun 15           8
1969     Sep 21      Oct 01           9
1985     Jul 02      Jul 10           9
1985     Aug 03      Aug 13           9
1998     May 21      May 31           9
2000     Apr 16      Apr 21           9
2008     Jul 05      Jul 13           9
1969     Sep 06      Sep 13          10
1976     Jun 23      Jul 04          10
1991     Jul 01      Jul 13          10
1969     May 28      Jun 10          11
1972     May 12      May 21          11
1986     Apr 18      Apr 30          11
1990     Jun 17      Jun 29          11

A quick note about my criteria for the above list: I’ve only included streaks that were completed entirely in the confines of a single season. If you ask me, a streak with a six-month break in the middle isn’t a streak. A streak is about enduring to beat the odds continuously for the longest period of time possible—a rest just isn’t consistent with the spirit of a streak. So I just omitted the four qualifying streaks that were split over two seasons. None qualified when viewed as two separate streaks.

So there you have it. The Mets’ current streak is nestled right in the middle of the list, at least according to length of the streak. But I’d like to assert that not all winning streaks are equal. They take place against different opponents, and they’re often achieved in different ways. We tend to think of winning streaks as periods of total domination, a great team—or at least a team playing great—exerting itself over lesser teams. But that just isn’t true; some teams can look not so great while beating a bunch of terrible teams. Is that really supposed to hold against a streak one game shorter but against superior opponents and won in dominant fashion?

To help sort all this out, I logged some information. First, I looked at who the Mets played during each streak, noting each team’s end-of-season winning percentage. While I considered only using the team’s winning percentage at the time of the game, I eventually decided this wasn’t a fair assessment of the opponent’s actual ability.

To measure “dominance” I figured out the margin by which the Mets won each game of the streak, compiling a run differential. Because it’s easier to rack up larger run differentials in offensively-minded eras, I added a simple league adjustment. It won’t be perfect due to the incredibly small samples we’re working with—one 15-2 game can throw things off—but it will help keep it vaguely accurate.

So, there are three components going into this: the length of the streak, which I’ve weighted the most heavily, the difficulty of the competition, and the size of the run differential over the course of the streak.

And a final note: this, like my Met-Killer Score, is just for fun. I have no idea if it works, and I’m not even sure what “works” means. This is just a diversion, so please don’t take this too seriously.

First, the honorable mentions:

17. September 14-22, 1988

Length: 8
Opponents’ Final Winning %: .458
Run Differential Per Game: 2.13

16. April 16-25, 2000

Length: 9
Opponents’ Final Winning %: .449
Run Differential Per Game: 2.67

15. June 25-July 4, 1986

Length: 8
Opponents’ Final Winning %: .502
Run Differential Per Game: 2.50

14. July 5-14, 1984

Length: 8
Opponents’ Final Winning %: .455
Run Differential Per Game: 3.38

13. May 28-June 10, 1969

Length: 11
Opponents’ Final Winning %: .462
Run Differential Per Game: 1.91

12. Sept 21-Oct 1, 1969

Length: 9
Opponents’ Final Winning %: .492
Run Differential Per Game: 2.78

11. July 2-10, 1985

Length: 9
Opponents’ Final Winning %: .444
Run Differential Per Game: 3.56

The big surprise is the 11-game streak from 1969 scoring so low, even finishing below an eight-game streak and a couple nine-gamers. The reason, of course, is that a .462 opponent winning percentage isn’t so hot, and they won by a margin of less than two runs a game. Another big surprise (to me, at least), is that the nine-game streak from 1969 fared worse than the 1985 streak, despite stiffer competition. In the end, the league adjustment for 1969 wasn’t much more severe than the adjustment for 1985.

Anyway, on to our top ten.

10. July 1-13, 1991

Length: 10
Opponents’ Final Winning %: .476
Run Differential Per Game: 2.60

The most surprising winning streak in team history, in my opinion. The 1991 team just wasn’t very good, but they beat the Phillies and Padres, who both hovered around .500 that year, although they did take advantage of one of the teams worse than they in the Expos. They did have a good pitching staff—Dwight Gooden, Frank Viola, David Cone, Ron Darling, and Wally Whitehurst—and nobody had an ERA higher than 1.72 over the ten games.

9. May 21-31, 1998

Length: 9
Opponents’ Final Winning %: .433
Run Differential Per Game: 4.33

The 1998 Mets took advantage of an easy stretch of their schedule in late May, 1998, beating the Reds, Brewers, Marlins, and Phillies. The Marlins were actually so bad (.333 winning percentage) that they skewed the whole thing down a tad. It should be noted the Mets acquired Mike Piazza on May 22nd, right in the middle of this streak.

8. July 5-13, 2008

Length: 9
Opponents’ Final Winning %: .456
Run Differential Per Game: 3.89

Our current streak, as of right now.

7. May 12-21, 1972

Length: 11
Opponents’ Final Winning %: .422
Run Differential Per Game: 2.64

Here, the Mets played the Giants and Expos for seven games on the road before returning home to play three against the truly laughable Phillies. Those three teams are easily the worst competition any Mets team has faced during a winning streak of eight or more games. Well, the team didn’t get much hitting, but they got enough (.751 OPS) and pitching carried the team. Starters Gary Gentry, Jon Matlack, and Buzz Capra all put up sub-2.00 ERAs, and the bullpen didn’t allow a single run in 23.1 innings. Still, the Mets managed to make several wins close affairs, eking out one-run victories in six of the eleven games. The Mets began the stretch a half-game in first over the Pirates, and they finished it six ahead. Unfortunately, it wasn’t nearly enough, as they played just 58-66 baseball the rest of the way, 19.5 games worse than the Bucs.

6. August 3-13, 1985

Length: 9
Opponents’ Final Winning %: .480
Run Differential Per Game: 3.33

While the July occurrence was plenty impressive, the August streak was more so. Despite playing better teams, the pitching seemed to be a little sharper, the offense much more potent. All except Rick Aguilera pitched well during the stretch, and Wally Backman, Keith Hernandez, Darryl Strawberry, and George Foster were otherworldly for the nine games. At the end of the August streak, the Mets found themselves a game in first, but, again, the lead wouldn’t hold.

5. June 7-15, 2006

Length: 8
Opponents’ Final Winning %: .499
Run Differential Per Game: 4.88

This was a big surprise, too. I never would’ve thought one of the eight-game streaks would rank so highly, but it’s a testament to the quality of the teams they beat and the way they manhandled them, though in this case the aforementioned 15-2 has skewed things a bit. The Mets beat the Dodgers, Phillies, and Diamondbacks over the course of this one. This one was pure offense—the team batted .328/.390/.567.

4. September 6-13, 1969

Length: 10
Opponents’ Final Winning %: .451
Run Differential Per Game: 3.20

1969 was definitely the year of the winning streak. The Mets had three streaks of nine games or more, two of which came in September. This began with the Mets still four-and-a-half out of first place and ended a week and ten games later with the Mets in first by three-and-a-half. The Cubs stumbled badly, going 1-7, including two losses to the Mets. The Mets’ pitching was great; Gentry, Tom Seaver, and Jerry Koosman combined for 60 innings of nine-run baseball.

3. June 17-29, 1990

Length: 11
Opponents’ Final Winning %: .481
Run Differential Per Game: 2.45

The 1990 season marked the end of the Davey Johnson era in New York. On May 25th, the team fired Johnson, replacing him with coach Buddy Harrelson. After a 2-5 start to his tenure, the team responded to Harrelson, winning nine of twelve games before taking these eleven straight victories. The winning streak gained the Mets six games on the Pirates, good for a tie for first place in the NL East. Though the streak ensured they stayed competitive, the Mets would wind up finishing four games short of Pittsburgh.

2. June 23-July 4, 1976

Length: 10
Opponents’ Final Winning %: .455
Run Differential Per Game: 4.50

After making the adjustment for context, this performance had the best run differential of any I looked at; the Mets managed to get both great hitting and great pitching for a change. Koosman, Jon Matlack, and Mickey Lolich were positively brilliant, while almost every hitter came alive, especially Mike Phillips, John Milner, Ed Kranepool, and Jerry Grote. The Mets were far out of first when the streak started—they were four games under .500 and already 14.5 games behind the Phillies—and they only wound up gaining two games, as the Phillies went 8-3 over the same timeframe.

1. April 18-30, 1986

Length: 11
Opponents’ Final Winning %: .477
Run Differential Per Game: 4.00

Not shocking at all—no team has been more dominant in Mets history. After starting off just 2-3, the Mets snapped into action, winning their next eleven games, including four against the rival Cardinals. While Darling and Rick Aguilera had a couple of mediocre outings, every other pitcher was phenomenal, and Davey Johnson’s platoon-fueled offense showed what it can do, hitting .305/.372/.483 as a unit. After the streak was snapped, the team picked itself right back up, reeling off another seven wins in a row. It’s the best stretch of baseball any Mets team has ever played, probably.