McGill’s historic winning streak snapped by Carleton at 30 games

Photo by: Laura Burnside
Originally posted Sep. 10, 2018 by CCBA

OTTAWA (Sep.10.2018) –

Baseball winning streaks are the stuff of legend. Movies like “MoneyBall” — that focused on Billy Bean’s Oakland Athletic’s 20-win streak during the 2002 season — have tried to capture the the sense of inevitability that envelops these teams of destiny. They just expect to find a way to win every time they step onto the ball diamond. A confidence that is earned win after win after win.

Indeed, so much has to go right for so long. All those line drives that manage to drop. The close plate calls that happen to go your way at the right time. And, of course, the team needs to be good, probably great, to have a chance at making history.

The longest MLB winning streak in the modern era was set recently by the 2017 Cleveland Indians. Before that, the Oakland Athletics made history winning 20 games in 2002 and before that you have to go back to the 1947 Yankees. It’s baseball lore.

In US college baseball, the NCAA D2 record for consecutive wins is 46 set by the Savannah State University Tigers in 2000. In D1 play, the 1977 Texas Longhorns and 1999 Florida Atlantic Owls both won 34 consecutive games.

In Canadian University baseball, the record is now held by four-peat Champions the McGill Redmen, who put up a 30-game win streak over three seasons starting in 2016 in the Canadian Collegiate Baseball Association.

That streak was finally snapped by Carleton University Ravens on Saturday, a team the Redmen had defeated four times in the regular season and again in the 2017 National Championship by a score of 10-1. The Ravens had come close twice before, losing to the Redmen by one-run on two consecutive outings in 2017. But as teams that make history tend to do, McGill found a way to win.

But on September 8th, behind a stellar pitching performance by Carleton’s ace Derek Harkin the Redmen finally lost 5-1. Only a few days later they lost again to the last team to best them before their streak started in 2016, the University of Ottawa Gee Gees.

There’s no telling when another streak like this one will happen again in Canadian University baseball. Parity seems to be increasing across the league. So let’s take a moment to salute McGill’s achievement as the road to the 2018 Canadian University World Series starts to heat up.