Ask Sports: How many times since 1985 have the Royals have gone an entire season without a 6-game winning streak?
The Royals won their first seven games this season. How many times in the past 30 years did they not have a winning streak of at least six games all season?
Probably not as many times as one might think based on their 28-year playoff drought from 1986 until 2013.
Kansas City has had winning streaks of 6 or more in 16 of the past 30 seasons, led by the team-record 14-game streak in 1994, right before the season-ending players strike.
Last year’s 10-game streak in June propelled the Royals into first place and set up the team’s Wild Card berth.
Of the 14 seasons without a winning streak of 6 or more games, the Royals’ worst years were when they managed only streaks of three wins: in 1997, 2004 and 2010.
The lengths of the streaks mostly correspond to how successful the team was at the time, with one notable exception. In 2002 the Royals won nine in a row. They still lost 100 games.
Joshua Wood
It’s like, better than losing
Year | Streak | Record | Year | Streak | Record | Year | Streak | Record |
1985 | 8 | 91-71 | 1995 | 7 | 70-74 | 2005 | 5 | 56-106 |
1986 | 4 | 76-86 | 1996 | 6 | 75-86 | 2006 | 4 | 62-100 |
1987 | 6 | 76-86 | 1997 | 3 | 67-94 | 2007 | 5 | 69-93 |
1988 | 7 | 84-77 | 1998 | 5 | 72-89 | 2008 | 7 | 75-87 |
1989 | 9 | 92-70 | 1999 | 4 | 64-97 | 2009 | 6 | 65-97 |
1990 | 5 | 75-86 | 2000 | 5 | 77-85 | 2010 | 3 | 67-95 |
1991 | 5 | 82-80 | 2001 | 6 | 65-97 | 2011 | 7 | 71-91 |
1992 | 6 | 72-90 | 2002 | 9 | 62-100 | 2012 | 4 | 72-90 |
1993 | 5 | 84-78 | 2003 | 9 | 83-79 | 2013 | 9 | 86-76 |
1994 | 14 | 64-51 | 2004 | 3 | 58-104 | 2014 | 10 | 89-73 |
This story was originally published April 18, 2015 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Ask Sports: How many times since 1985 have the Royals have gone an entire season without a 6-game winning streak?."