ST. LOUIS — The run of a lifetime has ended for the St. Louis Cardinals. With a loss Wednesday night to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Cardinals' 17-game winning streak came to an end.
So how does their 17-game September streak fit into Major League Baseball history? Here's a look.
If you look back at all recorded baseball history, the Cardinals' streak has a notable place on the all-time leaderboard. At 17 games, it's tied for 14th all-time behind many teams that played in the 1800s and dead-ball era.
The longest winning streak in the history of baseball occurred during the dead-ball era, which was quite different from the baseball we know today. The 1916 Giants rattled off 26 straight wins from Sept. 7 to Sept. 30 that season but did have a tie in the middle of that stretch.
The dead ball era is generally thought to have ended in 1920, with the elimination of the spitball. So how does the Cardinals' streak stack up when you put it in the context of what came next?
Since 1920, the start of the live-ball era, the Cardinals' 17-game streak is tied for sixth-longest in baseball with the 1931 Philadelphia Athletics and 1937-1938 Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Cardinals' streak is the third-longest in baseball since the end of the 1987 season, with only the 2002 Athletics (20 games) and 2017 Indians (22) going longer. It's the longest streak in the National League since the Giants won 16 in 1951.
With 11 straight road wins to end the season, the Cardinals have already tied a Major League record. The 1887 Phillies are the only other team in history to win their last 11 road games.
The 2021 team has pulled off the greatest streak in Cardinals franchise history. Before this 17-game run, the longest Cardinals streak was set in 1935 by the Gashouse Gang redbirds who won 14 in a row. The 1982 World Champion Cardinals now have the third-longest streak with 12-in-a-row during that title season.