Most impressive streaks

[Megatron]

I saw the top ten of Sportscenter today, which was 'The Top 10 Team Streaks of All Time' naturally, they had the UConn Women's current 89 game winning streak as #1. This got me thinking, what do you guys think is the most impressive streak, individual or team, of all time. It can be anything you can possibly think of.

For me, without much thought, it simply HAS to be Joe Dimaggio's 56 game hitting streak. I think baseball is the toughest sport to master out of them all, and even the best hitters today have games where they go 0-3 or 0-4 and no one makes a big deal out of it since baseball's a long, grinding season and sometimes you're just gonna have those days where it's not on. But for Joe D to get a hit in 56 straight games is straight up unbelievable. I don't care if all 56 hits were bunt singles, ANY time you can get a hit for 56 straight games it's impressive. Not only did he get a hit for 56 straight games, he had a great .408 average (91 for 223) with 15 HR's and 55 RBI's. That's a good season for an average player, but to do that in only 56 games is impressive. What's also surprising is that nobody has come within 10 of the record, and only one person (Pete Rose in 78) has even reached 40 games. It's one of those records that I don't think we'll ever see again, simply because of how there's going to be some days where guys aren't on and now pitchers are getting much smarter in where they are going to throw their next pitch.

So, I've made my case. What do you think is the most impressive streak, individual or team, of all time?

 

[CH David]

I think Joe has to be the answer. Hitting a baseball is a difficult task in and of itself. Hitting .270 is considered a solid season, and at most the hitting streak will probably hit 10 for that. Joltin' Joe getting 56 is just legendary not only in baseball but all of sports. No 0 fors, no getting on base via an error for 2 straight months. Now guys hope that they can get on base via walks to continue a consecutive games they reached base stat. The day someone comes with single digits of it is the day the baseball world goes insane. If anyone ever surpasses it then that player is going to be a baseball legend in their own right.

I originally wanted to go with Mark Buehrle taking hold of the consecutive batters retired streak, but I just can't go against Joe's streak.

 

[LitasRevenge79]

If you're talking about most impressive streaks, I'd like to throw one in for consideration. I know when most people say 'impressive' they think great playing. However, in terms of 'impressive' I will be sarcastic on this, I will throw The KC Royals in this hat. This teams has managed to piss away some of the best players to other teams. For example, we had a Cy Young award winner, Zack Greinke, and he gets shut out from his team and then gets traded to Milwaukee, granted, on his own request. Due to the team feeling like they need to rebuild. Rebuild what exactly?? This man from the time of 2009 gave you the BANNER year KC could've hoped for, and then in 2010, because KC would rather try to see what they can get better, we piss away our better players. Just like we did with many of our Chiefs. Don't get me started on that. I'd like to add KC Royals for IMPRESSIVE streaks, impressively stupid. Sad to say that in the KC area, we just don't have that much to be hopeful for in terms of sports, at least football is getting somewhat better. Thank you royals for screwing up our good pitcher Greinke.

 

[Stormtrooper]

I agree that Joe D's 56 is absolutely amazing. However, as amazing as it is, there is 1 streak that is even better. It's a streak that we somehow are forgetting about, even though it ended a week ago Monday.

On September 27th, 1992, a Brett Favre (acquired from the Falcons during the offseason) started for the Green Bay Packers after replacing the injured Don Majkowski a week prior. For the next 18 years, Brett Favre played every week of the regular season, and when his team was eligible, every week of the Postseason. The true number of consecutive games played is 321 (this totals 297 regular season starts and 24 postseason starts).

During this amazing 18 year journey, Brett won 3 MVP awards, 1 Super Bowl (appeared in 2), and reached the postseason 12 times (11 with the packers, 1 with the Vikings), playing 24 postseason games. Statistically, Brett Favre seemingly holds the record for holding the most records. Touchdowns, Yards, Interceptions, completions, attempts, you name it, he likely holds the record for it.

Now the main reason I hold this record in higher regard then even Joe DiMaggio's 56 is because of the position and game Brett played. Brett Favre played at an extremely high level in the National Football League at one of (if not the) toughest positions to play, and for most of it he played in frigid Green Bay, Wisconsin. Quarterbacks are subject to hit after hit after hit, and Brett played through them all. There were numerous times where he was injured during a game, and people wondered if he'd miss the next week, well he'd suck it up, and play injured if need be every week for 18 years, when a lesser man would sit out.

Whether you like him anymore or not (because of his off-the-field issues and constant media hype), there is no denying the greatness of Brett Favre's streak, and his streak NEEDS to be not only in the discussion, but it should BE the discussion.

 

[People's Champ]

I agree 100% with Storm. It has to be Farve. 18 year career. Starting 321 games at QB, probably the toughest position in the NFL, is absolutely amazing. Tghe pounding these guys take week in and week out is like no other. And for Farve to start through injuries, the death of his father and what not is incredible. And like Storm said, he wasn't some slouch. This guy continually played at an extremely high level, giving it everything every time he stepped onto the field. That's the most impressive streak.

 

[Big Sexy]

Since all of the major professional sports are team sports and the most important stat when talking about sports is winning, I'm going to go with the team who had the longest winning streak in the history of major American professional team sports. That team is the 1971-72 LA Lakers who won 33 straight games. Think about that. In the NBA you play an 82 game schedule and are usually playing 3-4 games every week. It's very easy to slip up and lose a game, but the Lakers were able to go for two months without losing one.

Only 3 other NBA teams have even been able to reach at least 20 straight wins and the second longest streak is still 11 games behind at 22 and that was done a few years ago by the Rockets. It's hard to compare different streaks in different sports when it comes to individual accomplishments, but it is a lot easier to compare winning streaks in different team sports. The Lakers had the longest winning streak, therefore I give them the nod.

 

[Megatron]

I agree 100% with Storm. It has to be Farve. 18 year career. Starting 321 games at QB, probably the toughest position in the NFL, is absolutely amazing. Tghe pounding these guys take week in and week out is like no other. And for Farve to start through injuries, the death of his father and what not is incredible. And like Storm said, he wasn't some slouch. This guy continually played at an extremely high level, giving it everything every time he stepped onto the field. That's the most impressive streak.

I would say the lines (both offensive and defensive) are much tougher positions to play in then QB. Yes, there's always a chance of a blindside hit and there's often guys 50+ pounds heavier slamming the QB to the ground, but there's an argument that they (QB's) only take half of the beating of everyone else since (more or less) half the time they're just handing the ball off to the running back. While I'm not questioning Favre and his ability to take hits, the linemen pound each other back and forth every play and there's (at least) 6 OL/DL with 200+ games started, along with one at 198.

And if you're going to go with consecutive games streaks, I'd go with Cal Ripken's first and foremost because there's only 1 other person (Gehrig) that comes within even HALF of those games started. There's many NFL players that have had 200+ games started and have done well (Gene Upshaw and Alan Page have both started 200+ and are in the HOF; Derrick Brooks started 200+ and was DPOTY in 02 and will probably be a HOF) but only Ripken and Gehrig have even reached 1500, let alone 2000.

I'm not trying to discredit Favre one bit, his streak of 321 is definitely impressive with all he's gone through, but there's been many guys that have eclipsed 200+ starts as well at, what I believe, is more grinding positions.

Since all of the major professional sports are team sports and the most important stat when talking about sports is winning, I'm going to go with the team who had the longest winning streak in the history of major American professional team sports. That team is the 1971-72 LA Lakers who won 33 straight games. Think about that. In the NBA you play an 82 game schedule and are usually playing 3-4 games every week. It's very easy to slip up and lose a game, but the Lakers were able to go for two months without losing one.

Only 3 other NBA teams have even been able to reach at least 20 straight wins and the second longest streak is still 11 games behind at 22 and that was done a few years ago by the Rockets. It's hard to compare different streaks in different sports when it comes to individual accomplishments, but it is a lot easier to compare winning streaks in different team sports. The Lakers had the longest winning streak, therefore I give them the nod.

If you're going to winning streaks, why wouldn't you have the Celtics run of 8 championships from 59-66? If I were to pick a team streak, it would probably be that one.

 

[Big Sexy]

If you're going to winning streaks, why wouldn't you have the Celtics run of 8 championships from 59-66? If I were to pick a team streak, it would probably be that one.

Because the Celtics were really the only dominant team in that period of time in the NBA. Not only that, but it's easier to have a streak like the championship streak the Celtics had for that time period because when you have 7 game series in the playoffs the better team is going to come out on top 9 times out of 10.

Let's also use the Celtics championship streak to put the Lakers winning streak in context even more. During that 8 year title run the longest winning streak the C's had in any of those seasons was just 17 games. That is only about HALF of what the Lakers streak was. That goes to show how hard it is to go out every single game for two months and win. The 8 straight titles was great but considering the time period of the C's title streak and how ridiculous the LA streak was, I say the Lakers still take it.

 

[ThePeoplesChampion]

I'm going with something no one has mentioned yet....how bout Florida State's 14 year streak (1987-2000) in the top 5 of college football.....that means for 14 years straight they either had 0, 1 or 2 loses at the very most...its hard enough to stay in the top 5 let alone top 10 for 2 years running just ask : Alabama, Texas, and Florida.

As far as Brett, Cal, and DiMaggio they are by far amazing and i know you said individual streaks as well but i went with a team streak.