Still streaking

For the Yankees, 2023 won't end with a trip to the playoffs, but a strong finish has saved a remarkable streak.

Despite missing nearly one-third of the season due to injury, Aaron Judge has had another monster season for the Yankees. (Photo courtesy of AP.)

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While any season that doesn’t end in the World Series is considered a disappointment in the Bronx, last night’s 5-2 victory over the Royals, the Yankees’ 82nd win of the year, assured the club of its 31st consecutive winning season, the 2nd-longest streak in Major League history.

How long has it been since the Yankees last finished below .500?

Let’s turn the clock back to 1992, the last time the Yanks ended a season with a losing record. 1992 was the year that…

• President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin announced the end of the Cold War.

• Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation after 11 years of marriage.

• Jay Leno replaced Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show.

• End of the Road by Boyz II Men topped Billboard’s Hot 100 Number 1 Singles list in the year that compact discs surpassed cassette tapes as the preferred medium for recorded music. Other big hits of the year included Baby Got Back (Sir Mix-a-Lot), Jump (Kris Kross), Save the Best for Last (Vanessa Williams) and Baby-Baby-Baby (TLC).

• The Silence of the Lambs became the first horror film to win the Oscar for Best Picture, while Batman Returns topped Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Lethal Weapon 3 and Sister Act on the list of the year’s top-grossing movies.

• Television series debuts included The Larry Sanders Show, Melrose Place, The Real World (credited by many with ushering in a new era of Reality TV), Mad About You and Barney & Friends.

• Murphy Brown was named Best Comedy Series and Northern Exposure was recognized as Best Drama Series at the Emmy Awards.

• The U.S. Postal Service asked Americans to vote for using a young Elvis or an old Elvis on an Elvis Presley commemorative stamp. More than 1.2 million cast their ballots and (SPOILER ALERT) young Elvis won in a landslide, collecting 75 percent of the vote.

• The U.S. Presidential election was closer, with Bill Clinton defeating incumbent George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot.

• Sprint debuted commercial dial-up internet, and less than 2 percent of Americans were online. That same year, a team of students and researchers at the University of Illinois developed Mosaic (later known as Netscape), which offered a user-friendly way to search the emerging World Wide Web. It allowed users to see words and pictures on the same page for the first time and to navigate using scrollbars and clickable links. 

• On December 3, 22-year-old British software engineer Neil Papworth sent the first text message, typing "Merry Christmas" on a computer and transmitting the message to the cell phone of Vodafone director Richard Jarvis.

• The average price of a gallon of gas was $1.13. A first-class stamp cost 29 cents. A gallon of milk averaged $2.78. The average movie ticket was $4.15. The average American home sold for $122,500. And the average American made $30,030.

• The Dream Team of Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Christian Laettner, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson and John Stockton brought Olympic Basketball Gold home to the USA from Barcelona.

• The most destructive hurricane to date in American history, Hurricane Andrew ravaged South Florida, causing an estimated $35 billion in damage.

• The Blue Jays beat the Braves in the World Series, the Redskins downed the Bills in the Super Bowl, the Bulls took down the Trail Blazers in the NBA Finals and the Penguins swept the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Finals.

• Born in 1992: Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Neymar, Cardi B, Nick Jonas, Kate Upton and Demi Lovato.

And in Baseball…

• The Blue Jays beat the Braves in a 6-game Fall Classic, becoming the first team from outside the United States to win the World Series.

• Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in downtown Baltimore, ushering in a transformative era of new ballparks that altered the sport’s economic structure while simultaneously revolutionizing ballpark design.

• In his final season as a Pirate, Barry Bonds was the NL MVP, although his throw to the plate in the bottom of the 9th of Game 7 of the NLCS was too late to get Sid Bream, making Francisco Cabrera a household name.

• Dennis Eckersley of the Athletics won both the MVP and the Cy Young Award in the American League.

• George Brett and Robin Yount recorded their 3,000th hits 10 days apart in September.

• 37-year-old Ozzie Smith won his 13th and final Gold Glove at shortstop.

• Rollie Fingers, Tom Seaver, Hal Newhouser and umpire Bill McGowan were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

• Future Hall of Famers Pedro Martinez and Mike Piazza debuted as teammates on a 99-loss Dodgers team 23 days apart from each other in September.

• The Marlins took Nigel Wilson with their #1 pick in the Expansion Draft in advance of their inaugural season in 1993.

• The Astros selected Cal State-Fullerton third baseman Phil Nevin with the first pick in the June draft, and the Yankees drafted shortstop Derek Jeter out of Central High School in Kalamazoo, MI at #6. Others chosen in the first round that year included outfielder Johnny Damon by the Royals, catcher Jason Kendall by the Pirates and—with their first-ever #1 pick—catcher Charles Johnson by the Marlins.

• Born in 1992: Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Kris Bryant, Jose Fernandez, Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Jose Ramirez, Blake Snell and…Aaron Judge.

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Here’s a look at how many times each big league franchise has finished below .500 over the last 31 seasons, since the Yankees’ last sub-.500 campaign in 1992:

• Pirates 27

• Royals 24

• Marlins 23

• Rockies 22

• Padres 21

• Tigers 21

• Reds 20

• Brewers 19

• Orioles 19

• Mets 18

• Rangers 17

• Twins 17

• Expos/Nationals 17

• Angels 16

• Cubs 15

• Mariners 15

• Phillies 15

• Atletics 15

• White Sox 15

• Blue Jays 14

• Rays 14 (didn’t begin play until 1998)

• Giants 13

• D-Backs 12 (didn’t begin play until 1998)

• Guardians 11

• Astros 9

• Red Sox 9

• Braves 6

• Cardinals 6

• Dodgers 3

• Yankees 0

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While the Yankees’ streak is alive and well at 31 and counting, 2nd-longest in ML history, the Cardinals’ 15-season streak (tied for 6th-longest all-time) has ended in 2023. The new owner of the 2nd-longest active run of consecutive winning seasons is the Dodgers, who have extended their streak to 13 in a row in 2023. Their last losing season came in 2010, when they finished 80-82.

MOST CONSECUTIVE WINNING SEASONS (AL/NL HISTORY)

• 39…Yankees, 1926-64 (26 playoff apps, 26 pennants, 19 World Series titles)

• 31…Yankees, 1993- (24 playoff apps, 7 pennants, 5 World Series titles)

• 18…Orioles, 1968-85 (7 playoff apps, 5 pennants, 2 World Series titles)

• 17…White Sox, 1951-67 (1 playoff app, 1 pennant, 0 World Series titles)

• 16…Red Sox, 1967-82 (2 playoff apps, 2 pennants, 0 World Series titles)

• 15…Cardinals, 2008-22 (10 playoff apps, 2 pennants, 1 World Series title)

• 15…Cardinals, 1939-53 (4 playoff apps, 4 pennants, 3 World Series titles)

• 15…Braves, 1991-2005 (14 playoff apps, 5 pennants, 1 World Series title)

• 15…Pirates, 1899-1913 (2 playoff apps, 2 pennants, 1 World Series title)

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