Since Tony La Russa became St. Louis Cardinals manager in 1996, his clubs have had only seven longer winning streaks.
With their 7-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at Busch Stadium on Tuesday night, the St. Louis Cardinals extended their current winning streak to seven games, the longest active stretch among all MLB clubs.
It is not only St. Louis’ best run this season – it would have been their longest during the previous three years, too. One has to go back to their World Series-winning season of 2006, July 7-16 to be specific, to find an example of the Cards taking seven straight games. Ironically, the 2006 Cardinals vanquished Houston and Los Angeles during their run, the same clubs defeated in the first five games of the current streak.
Because someone will surely ask, in the Tony La Russa years (starting in 1996), the Cardinals have enjoyed just seven winning streaks of eight or more consecutive games. The club’s best under Tony was 11 straight in August 2001.
St. Louis Cardinals winning streaks, 1996-present
| First | Last | G | Opponents |
| 8/9/2001 | 8/19/2001 | 11 | MON,NYM,CIN,PHI |
| 5/7/2001 | 5/17/2001 | 10 | PIT,CHC |
| 8/27/2004 | 9/5/2004 | 9 | PIT,SDP,LAD |
| 9/8/2001 | 9/22/2001 | 9 | LAD,MIL,PIT |
| 7/2/2004 | 7/10/2004 | 8 | SEA,CIN,CHC |
| 9/3/2002 | 9/11/2002 | 8 | CIN,CHC,MIL |
| 8/30/1996 | 9/7/1996 | 8 | COL,HOU,SDP |
| 7/11/2010 | 7/20/2010* | 7 | HOU,LAD,PHI |
| 7/7/2006 | 7/16/2006 | 7 | HOU,LAD |
| 8/4/2004 | 8/11/2004 | 7 | MON,NYM,FLA |
| 4/27/2003 | 5/4/2003 | 7 | FLA,NYM,MON |
| 9/11/2000 | 9/17/2000 | 7 | PIT,CHC |
* current
Thanks to researcher Tom Orf for providing the above table.
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