Unbelievable MLB Starts: Discover the Teams That Shattered AL/NL Records from Day One!

Just two years after a 54-108 finish, the ’81 A’s, managed by Billy Martin, won their first AL West crown since 1975 at 64-45 (the season was shortened due to a players strike). At the time, their 11-0 start set an AL record for the best start to a season.
The Dodgers ended the 1911 Detroit Tigers’ record of 12 straight home wins almost 100 years later in 2009. They finished 50-31 at home on the way to the NL West title but lost to the defending World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS.

What defines the best start to a Major League Baseball season? Is it sheer winning streak prowess, or the nostalgia tied to long-gone legends from baseball’s formative days? While the 1884 St. Louis Maroons blasted out 20 straight wins—a feat that might make even the ghosts of Cooperstown tip their caps—that season belongs more to baseball’s distant past than to the modern era. So, I rolled up my sleeves and dove deep into the stats from 1901 onward to unearth which American or National League teams truly kicked things off with a bang. Prepare to challenge your assumptions, because the top streaks and records reveal some surprising heroes and forgotten glories that still echo today. Curious who holds the crown? Let’s find out together. LEARN MORE.

Managed by the great Joe Torre, the ’82 Braves finished the regular season atop the NL West (yes, the Braves were in the West) but were swept by the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS. St. Louis would go on to win the World Series over the Milwaukee Brewers in seven games.

The Dodgers opened the season 10-0, which is tied for fifth on the all-time list. And they also went 11-0 on the road in 1955. It proved to be an all-around magical year as they beat the New York Yankees in the World Series. After dropping the first three at Yankee Stadium, Brooklyn won 2-0 on the road in Game 7.

Longest Winning Streaks to Begin a Season

T-1. 13-0 – 2023 Tampa Bay Rays (March 30-April 13)

The Brewers won 91 games in ’87 but finished 7.0 games back of the Detroit Tigers in the AL East. Playoff baseball was hardly the guarantee it sometimes feels it’s since become.

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They started that season with 20 straight wins and finished 94-19, but rules are rules and that season was closer to the end of the Civil War than it was to the start of baseball’s modern era.

T-1. 13-0 – 1987 Milwaukee Brewers (April 6-20)

So instead, we’ve dug into the historical data to discover the best start to an American or National League season during the modern era (since 1901).

T-1. 13-0 – 1982 Atlanta Braves (April 6-21)

The 2023 Rays, the 1982 Braves and 1987 Brewers are tied for the longest season-opening winning streaks in MLB’s modern era.

4. 11-0 – 1981 Oakland Athletics (April 9-19)

The 2023 Rays not only won their first 13 games overall, they also broke the Dodgers’ home record with an 8-3 win at Tropicana Field against the defending champion Houston Astros on April 24.

Longest Winning Streak at Home to Start a Season

1. 14-0 – 2023 Tampa Bay Rays (March 30-April 24)

Then there was those long-forgotten Maroons, who began the 1885 season with 14 straight victories at home. Two years later, the Detroit Wolverines took a run at the old record with 18 consecutive home wins in 1886.

If we’re going all the way back to the birth of professional baseball, the Chicago White Stockings own this mark with 21 straight home wins to open the 1880 season.

And the 1884 Maroons aren’t the only ones turning in their graves for being left off that list. That same year, the New York Gothams started the season with 12 straight wins but went .500 from there and changed their name the next season to the New York Giants.

2. 13-0 – 2009 Los Angeles Dodgers (April 13-May 6)

Hall of Famer Ty Cobb’s .420 batting average during the 1911 season still ranks as the third highest of the modern era. (He only hit .416 at home.) The Tigers went 51-25 at home and 89-65 overall but without a wild-card round in those days, they didn’t make the postseason.  

3. 12-0 – 1911 Detroit Tigers (April 13-May 9) 

As far as we know, there’s no one alive from the 1884 St. Louis Maroons to argue this one.

4. 11-0 – 2003 Kansas City Royals (March 31-May 5)

Longest Winning Streak on Road to Start a Season

1. 17-0 – 1984 Detroit Tigers (April 3-May 24)

Sometimes it wasn’t fair in the days before expanded playoffs. The Cardinals went 97–56 in 1941 but finished second in the National League behind the 100-win Dodgers.

2. 12-0 – 1941 St. Louis Cardinals (April 15-May 5)

Kevin Cash’s Rays were one of only seven teams dating to 1901 to have started a season with at least 10 wins when they opened 13-0 in 2023.

T-3. 11-0 – 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers (April 14-May 10)

We’ve dug into the historical data to discover the best start to an American/National League season during the modern era (since 1901).

T-3. 11-0 – 1981 Oakland Athletics (April 9-26) 

The A’s not only started the season 11-0 overall, but they also opened with 11 straight wins on the road. Their 17-1 start overall remains the best start in MLB history through 18 games. They swept the Royals in the ALDS, but lost to Yankees in the ALCS.

The Tigers opened the season an unbelievable 17-0 on the road and 35-5 overall in 1984. They rolled all the way to a 104-58 record under Sparky Anderson and beat the San Diego Padres in the World Series.
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