Tonight’s game against Detroit wasn’t quite like most of Cleveland’s games lately in that it was close, with a final score of 2-0. Tonight’s game against Detroit was exactly like most of Cleveland’s games lately in that they won, for their near-record 20th straight victory.
Led by a gorgeous pitching performance by Corey Kluber—a complete game shutout with eight strikeouts and no walks—Cleveland tied the 2002 Oakland A’s for the second-longest winning streak in MLB history and pulled within one of the all-time record, held by the 1935 Cubs.
Despite a series of high-profile injuries that could have hampered them considerably—Jason Kipnis, Andrew Miller, Michael Brantley—Cleveland has been cruising. Over the last three weeks, they have not just won but won spectacularly, leaving little room for doubt about just how good they can be. Baseball that ends in victory is not necessarily always good baseball or interesting baseball, but so much of what Cleveland has done in this streak has been all of the above.
They’ll try to tie the all-time record tomorrow afternoon in the series finale against the Tigers, with Mike Clevinger facing Buck Farmer.