Most Unbreakable MLB Streak/Record of All Time?

Johnny VanderMeer's back-to-back no hitters should be considered in the top 10.

Walter Johnson 110 complete game shutouts will never be approached.

bullpenninghurts wrote:

Walter Johnson 110 complete game shutouts will never be approached.

Great catch. In an era of a starting pitcher going 5 innings considered an iron man, 110 complete games may not be approached......then throw in shutouts! That might be #1 ahead of Cy Young's 511. For perspective, a pitcher can win 20 games per year for 25 years and still come up 11 wins short of Young.

1. Consecutive Complete Games: Jack Taylor (39)

From April 15 through October 6 of 1904, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jack Taylor threw 39 consecutive complete games.

Opinionated guy wrote:

Johnny VanderMeer's back-to-back no hitters should be considered in the top 10.

This one. There is no way anybody breaks this. Firstly, most records can be beaten by fractions of a percent. This one needs to be beaten by 50%.

Remember a few years ago when Jake Arrieta was the hot topic after he threw a no-hitter. There was a media craze that he had to work through, and even then some pointed questions came up about how the next team he was schedued against wasn't particularly strong, maybe he could crazily throw another.

Imagine, just imagine how crazy the sports world would go if he actually threw two no-hitters in a row? Insanity, interviews not just on ESPN, but Good Morning America, Ellen, pretty much every TV show would be begging for him as a guest. That not to mention the slew of everyone in his personal life going crazy (in a good way) around him. Parties, booze, anything you can imagine.

NOW, the next time he pitches, he has to again throw as impeccably as he did the previous two. Every batter that steps up know, they could be the one to ruin it. The sportsbooks for the rest of time will read that the they were the one who ended the streak. Just bunt, do something, anything.

This is the only record in sports that I see as unbreakable.

13. Cy Young: Consecutive Hitless Innings Pitched

Record: 25.1 Consecutive Innings Pitched without a Hit

Ichiro has more hits than PR

Just Wow! wrote:

1. Consecutive Complete Games: Jack Taylor (39)

From April 15 through October 6 of 1904, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jack Taylor threw 39 consecutive complete games.

He actually had 187 straight starts that resulted in complete games.

His CG streak(s) was broken.... when he himself was used as a reliever (of someone else)!

(I'm not a B'more homer, but hear me out)

Ripken's streak has the caveat that it's a bit of an unusual record as there's a management aspect involved rather than purely statistical, so I don't know that it should be included in this list, but if you're including it this one has to be the one. It is a bonkers record. Any of the other records there's at least a chance someone will break it in the next five to ten years

Caveats aside:

- There are only two players in the big leagues right now who have played as many games total as Cal had in his streak - Pujols and Miggy Cabrera. Both Hall of Fame level players, both of whom have struggled with injuries and declining production later in their careers - the types of things that could reasonably keep a veteran player on the bench for the second half of a double header.

- There were only five players who played all 162 of their teams games this year. None of them played all of their teams games in 2018. A cursory search didn't yield an active list, but Marcus Semien (hehe) played 159 games in 2018- if he skipped his first three games that would put his streak at 321 games, a mere 2311 games (14.25 seasons!) behind the record. I suppose it's possible that if the erstwhile replacement level utility infielder can keep playing at the level he played this year, in June of 2035 we could be celebrating the next ironman.

Most games played without a plate or field appearance.

Record: 2,379 Fielding Chances without an Error

2: 56 game hitting streak: Joe DiMaggio

Clearly Ted WIlliams 84 on-base games streak is better.

DorothyMantooth wrote:

Opinionated guy wrote:

Johnny VanderMeer's back-to-back no hitters should be considered in the top 10.

This is the only record in sports that I see as unbreakable.

Eckersley (when he was still a starter) in 1977 actually had a real chance to make 2 (and challenge Cy's 25.1).

I wanna see someone challenge Ron Hunt for HBP numbers.

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=9645726

Already broken... wrote:

13. Cy Young: Consecutive Hitless Innings Pitched

Record: 25.1 Consecutive Innings Pitched without a Hit

The record books credited Young with 23 consecutive hitless innings based on these games in 1904:

April 25 2 innings in a 2-0 loss at Philadelphia (9 outs)

April 30 6 innings in relief in a 4-1 win at Washington (21 outs)

May 5 9 innings in the perfect game against Philadelphia (27 outs)

May 11 6 innings starting against Detroit (19 outs)

That adds up to 23 innings, and from a conservative point of view, that would have been the minimum full innings he could have pitched in those games. But counting all the outs Young was responsible for gives a fuller count, as follows: ... Put another way, he retired 76 batters without giving up a hit, a truly remarkable record for which he should receive full credit.

Note that he would have beat the record of 45 straight outs (by Buehrle) if not for the 9th inning error on April 30 (no BBs).

MLBFan wrote:

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/679937-mlb-top-unbreakable-streaks-and-records-in-major-league-baseball-history#slide9

In short: What current MLB streak/record will be the hardest for someone to break? Bleacher Report lists them in this order:

10: 73 homeruns in one season: Barry Bonds

9: .367 career batting average: Ty Cobb

8: 1,406 career stolen bases: Rickey Henderson

7: 2,632 consecutive games played: Cal Ripken, Jr.

6: 7 career no-hitters: Nolan Ryan

5: 4,256 career hits: Pete Rose

4: .426 average in one season: Napoleon Lajoie

3: 309 career triples: Sam Crawford

2: 56 game hitting streak: Joe DiMaggio

1: 511 career wins: Cy Young

Obviously, most if not all of those could be considered unreachable, but which one do you think has the lowest possible chance of being broken? I think I agree with Bleacher Report and Cy Young's 511 career wins.

***

ACTUALLY you would need to decide if you want to consider records for a season or career. Obviously the records you included for a single season. (no matter how impressive) pales in comparison to the records over a career in terms of being broken

MLBFan wrote:

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/679937-mlb-top-unbreakable-streaks-and-records-in-major-league-baseball-history#slide9

In short: What current MLB streak/record will be the hardest for someone to break? Bleacher Report lists them in this order:

10: 73 homeruns in one season: Barry Bonds

9: .367 career batting average: Ty Cobb

8: 1,406 career stolen bases: Rickey Henderson

7: 2,632 consecutive games played: Cal Ripken, Jr.

6: 7 career no-hitters: Nolan Ryan

5: 4,256 career hits: Pete Rose

4: .426 average in one season: Napoleon Lajoie

3: 309 career triples: Sam Crawford

2: 56 game hitting streak: Joe DiMaggio

1: 511 career wins: Cy Young

Obviously, most if not all of those could be considered unreachable, but which one do you think has the lowest possible chance of being broken? I think I agree with Bleacher Report and Cy Young's 511 career wins.

Ball parks are built differently. When baseball players were 165lbs. to 175lbs. men who did not lift weights, the ball parks were over 435ft. in deep center field. The old Polo Grounds where NY Giants played was 480 ft. in deep center. Tiger Stadium was a big park too. That's one of the reasons why there were so many more triples in the old days. The pitcher mound was lowered, circa 1970. More baseballs are used, so balls do not get scuffed and re-used. There are lights now in all ball parks. Baseball gloves are larger. Baseball do not allow blacks and darker Latins for a long time. Outfielders are much faster now. Small parks, large gloves and speed of outfielders, many batters swing for home runs nearly every pitch, thus a lot of strike outs. In theory, #2, #5, #6, #7, #8 & #10 can be topped. One, three, four and nine cannot be topped.

In terms of not going to be broken, got to go with Cal's record. I just don't see anyone even attempting to break it, nor should they -- even Cal was a shadow of himself towards the end.

That being said, it is less a record of skill and more about durability (which, as I runner, I deeply respect).

I would think that nearly all quantitative records related to starting pitchers will stand forever given the emphasis on pitch counts. No one is going to get 511 career wins because no starting pitcher is going to be around in the late innings often enough to be the pitcher of record that many times. No one is going to win 59 games in a season like Hoss Radbourn did in 1884. There were no 20 game winners this season.You're never even going to see someone have 20 wins and 20 losses in the same season again. No one is going to pitch back to back no hitters. They even pull pitchers who are working on one no hitter from games now if their pitch count is too high. Pitching records for relief pitchers are the ones most likely to be broken and you could see the record for strike outs in a single game broken. Aside from pitching records, no one is going to hit .426 again for a whole season.