Saturday, July 19, 2008

Looking For Mo

How much is "momentum" worth after a ten-game winning streak? I looked at the seven winning streaks (before the most recent one) in Mets history that lasted 10 or more games -- four eleven-game win streaks (May/June 1969, May 1972, April 1986 and June 1990) and three ten-game win streaks (September 1969, June/July 1976 and July 1991). Obviously the game immediately after a win streak is always a loss, by defintion. But then I looked at what happened in the 10 games after that streak-breaking loss. In the 10 games immediately after the loss that ended the Mets' four 11-game win streaks, the Mets went 6-4, 6-4, 8-2 and 7-3, for a very impressive 27-13 record. In the ten games following the the loss tthat ended the Mets three streaks of exactly 10 wins, the Mets went 7-3, 4-6 and 4-6, for an exactly .500 record of 15-15. Adding those two groups together you get a 42-28 record in the applicable 70 games immediately following the seven double digit streak-enders.