In my opinion, one of the strengths as well as weaknesses of Mike Matheny’s first three-plus clubs as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals is that the team never seemed to get too high or too low.
We saw consistently successful rosters that rarely reeled off major winning streaks, but usually avoided long losing skids as well. Winning two games of a given series was a far more common outcome than a sweep.
In terms of overall won-loss record, Matheny’s Cardinals have been very good, with an aggregate 294-217 mark, a .575 winning percentage. All three full-year clubs made the post-season and each at least reached the League Championship Series.
While the 2013 Cardinals dropped seven consecutive games, none of Matheny’s clubs had won more than six straight regular season contests – until now.
Granted, three of the recent victories have been extremely close – the extra-inning variety – yet it is the Cardinals who are coming out on top. I am at least as impressed with the current run of seven consecutive victories because of the momentum it represents as I am with the club’s 19-6 (.760) overall start that is rightfully drawing so much attention.
It will be interesting to watch if the 2015 Cardinals can both keep on winning as well as avoiding later setting a new Matheny record for consecutive losses, as well.
Here are the longest winning and losing streaks to date by season during Matheny’s tenure.
| Year | Longest win streak | When | Opponents | Longest loss streak | When | Opponents |
| 2012 | Five | June | KC/Mia | Five | May-June | Atl/NYM |
| 2013 | Six (twice) | April-May | Cin/Mil | Seven | July | Atl/Pit |
| September | Was/ChC | |||||
| 2014 | Six | Aug-Sept | ChC/Pit/Mil | Four (twice) | July-Aug | LAD/TB/ChC |
| Aug | Pit/ChC | |||||
| 2015 to-date | Seven * | April-May | Phi/Pit/ChC | Two (twice) | April | ChC/Cin |
| * current | April | Mil/Phi |
As reference, in his 16 years leading the Cardinals, Tony La Russa‘s clubs’ longest winning streaks were 11, 10, nine (twice) and eight games (four times). Oddly, the three longest were all in 2001.
La Russa’s teams lost nine consecutive games just once and dropped eight in a row only twice. The former was during the 2007 season while both eight-game skids occurred the year before, in 2006.
Follow me on Twitter.