Well now you jerks have me going deep dive on the hottest start to a season, which is 13 wins by the '82 Braves and '87 Brewers.
The Braves started 13-0, then went 76-73 the rest of the way and got swept by the Cardinals 3-0 in the NLCS. Why was it only best of 5 that year? That's weird. They also had an 11-game losing streak from August 3-13.
The Braves' season opener they won 1-0 over the Padres in a game with 6 total hits. They beat the Padres twice, then hosted your hometown Houston Astros.
They beat us 6-2, in a game that the Astros made 3 errors, leading to a pair of unearned runs. That games was 5-0 after 1 inning. Then they beat us 8-6. That game was 5-0 after 2 innings. Progress! After 4 games, Rafael Ramirez was hitting .467 for the Braves.
Then they beat us 5-0 and we made 2 more errors and had 5 hits. So all three games were 5-0 at one point. Ramirez went 2 for 4 in that game and was hitting .474.
Then they swept the Reds 3 straight in Cincy, although they trailed in 2 of those games. That got them to 8-0.
Then they rolled up to Houston to beat us some more. We led 3-0 after 5 innings, then they scored 5 runs off Nolan Ryan in the sixth to win 5-3. At that point, Nolan was 0-3 with a 7.90 ERA.
Then they beat us 2-1 with 2 in the top of the first to get to 10-0.
Then 6-5 to get to 11-0. We were up 4-1 in the second inning of that game, Art Howe grounded out with the tying run at third in the bottom of the ninth.
They beat the Reds 4-2 to get to 12-0,then beat them 4-3 to get to 13-0, scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the ninth. There were only 22,000 people at that game! WTF, Atlanta? Down 4-3 here's the bottom of the ninth:
Sinatro walked
Ramirez reached on a bunt single, Sinatro to second.
Linares flied out to center.
Butler singled to shortstop; ball his SInatro, who is out, Ramirez to second.
Wild pitch sends Butler to 2B and Ramirez to 3B
Pocoroba intentionally walked.
Claudell Washington singles to center, 2 runs scored.
They hit 1 ball out of the infield and scored 2 runs.
When they were 13-0, they had a 4 game lead on the Padres and a 9 game lead on the Astros.
Next day, the Reds beat them 2-1
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I remember the
Brewers' streak pretty well because it was my first year with a subscription to Sports Illustrated and also the year Paul Molitor had a 39-game hit streak. They swept the Red Sox to start the season 3-0 at home, including a wild 12-11 third game of the year. Rob Deer aka 1980s Joey Gallo was 2 for 4 with 2 HR and 6 RBI in that game.
The next day they welcomed the Rangers to their home opener by scoring 8 runs in Arlington in the top opf the first and holding on to an 11-8 win. They scored 26 runs in 3 games to sweep Texas.
They got to 9-0 and swept the Orioles on April 15 as Juan Nieves threw a no-hitter. He walked 5 guys and struck out 7.
The Rangers rolled over for the next three, losing 10-2, 4-3, and 6-4 to get Milwaukee to 12-0. Rob Deer hit 2 more home runs in the last game to give him SEVEN in the first 12 games of the year. He had 4 RBI to get to 17.
12 games into the season, Rob Deer was hitting .429 with a 1.472 OPS and was on pace for 95 HR and 230 RBI
They beat the White Sox 5-4 to get to 13-0, then got whipped 7-1 the next day. At 13-0, they were only 3 games up on the Yankees. Ironically, neither of those teams won the division. The Tigers won 98, the Blue Jays won 96, and the Brewers finished 3rd with 91 wins.
Life is better with a beagle