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How Improbable The Cleveland Indians' Long Winning Streak Really Was

The Cleveland Indian's 2-0 win Tuesday night was their 20th victory in a row.

How Improbable The Cleveland Indians' Long Winning Streak Really Was
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With a 2-0 win over the Detroit Tigers Tuesday night, the Cleveland Indians notched their 20th victory in a row.

Without a doubt, baseball fans will understand the significance of the Indians even tying the American League record of 20 consecutive wins.

But if your baseball fandom is a little lower, consider this: The 2002 Oakland Athletics were the last team to do that; there was even a movie made about it.

That's partly because 20 consecutive wins is very difficult.

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Statistics site FiveThirtyEight predicts odds before every Major League Baseball game.

And looking back at those estimates for the Indians, they had about a 0.005 percent chance of winning those 20 games in a row.

Yet, despite the 1 in 20,000 odds, you could say the Indians dominated.

In seven of those matchups, the Indians' opponents didn't score a single run.

And out of the 180 innings played during those 20 games, the Indians were behind at the end of only four.