If there's one time that an MLB team wants to get hot, it's definitely October. Getting rolling in the MLB Postseason has the most obvious reward in baseball: a run to the World Series.
Of course, that's always easier said than done. In recent years, particularly, we've seen both sides of the coin. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves have both put forth elite regular seasons with 100+ wins only to get bounced from the playoffs quickly. Meanwhile, teams like the Philadelphia Phillies have caught fire as a wild card entry to the postseason and had great success.
To start the 2023 MLB Playoffs, though, the Texas Rangers have the look of a team that could be getting the right type of hot. Despite stumbling at the end of the regular season, squandering their AL West lead, and getting in as a wild card, the Rangers started the postseason sweeping the Rays in the Wild Card Series, sweeping the Orioles in the ALDS (another 100+ win team going home early) and then winning Games 1 and 2 of the ALCS against the Houston Astros.
The Rangers started the 2023 playoffs winning seven straight games, which has fans asking: What is the longest winning streak to begin an MLB Postseason?
Longest winning streak to begin an MLB Postseason
The Kansas City Royals hold the record for the longest winning streak to begin the MLB Postseason, winning eight consecutive games back in 2014, per Sarah Langs of MLB.com. The Rangers started the 2023 playoffs just one game shy of that record with the chance to tie them in Game 3 of the ALCS. Here's a look at the full list of longest win-streaks to begin a playoff run in MLB history.
- Kansas City Royals (2014): 8
- Texas Rangers (2023): 7 (Still Active)
- Houston Astros (2022): 7
- Atlanta Braves (2020): 7
- Colorado Rockies (2007): 7
- Cincinnati Reds (1976): 7
Of the five previous teams to have won seven or more games to start the MLB Postseason, the 2020 Braves were the only club to not make it to the World Series that year. Having said that, only the 2022 Astros and 1976 Reds actually won the Fall Classic. In the case of the Reds, that makes the most sense as the entire postseason was only seven games long for Cincinnati.
