The Atlanta Braves’ recent hot streak — winning nine straight games before Sunday’s loss to Max Scherzer and the Nationals — has suddenly put Major League Baseball into the position of making history.
What might that be?
With essentially three weeks left of the 2019 campaign, the Astros (94-50), Yankees (94-50), Dodgers (93-52) and Braves (89-55) are all on track to cross the 100-win threshold — which, if true, would break the MLB record for most 100-victory seasons in a given year.
Heck, even the AL Central-leading Twins (88-55) have a decent shot of cracking the century mark in wins; but with a 5 1/2-game division lead and the No. 3 seed in the American League playoffs ostensibly wrapped up, Minnesota will likely opt for rest shortly after clinching a postseason spot (Central magic number: 14).
In MLB’s illustrious history, covering parts of three centuries, baseball has never had experienced more than three 100-win clubs in a given season.
Since 1942, the 100-wins triumvirate has occurred seven different times — most recently in 2018, when American League superpowers New York, Houston and eventual champion Boston (108-54) each cracked the century mark.
Interestingly enough, charting the seven times MLB has produced three 100-win clubs, the Yankees were part of this mix on six occasions (1942, 1977, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2018).
DO THE MATH
Astros (94-50) —–>> on track for 106 wins
Yankees (94-50) —–>> on track for 106 wins
Dodgers (93-52) —–>> on track for 104 wins
Braves (89-55) —–>> on track for 100 wins
Twins (88-55) —–>> on track for 99.6 wins … 100 when rounding up