The 1919 Washington Senators endured a record seven consecutive one-run defeats from May 21 to May 29. The first six were on the road. The seven one-run losses were part of an 11-game losing streak that ended with an eighth one-run loss.
The great Walter Johnson, winner of 20 of his team’s 54 victories that season, suffered three of those one-run defeats and four of the 11 losses in a row. Johnson started just one of the games he lost. The score was 5-4 with three of runs he yielded being unearned. Another of Washington’s seven one-run losses came courtesy of two unearned runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Ouch.
Washington finished seventh in 1919, down from third in 1918 with just 56 wins, the worst performance since Clark Griffith took over in 1912. This first season after World War I was shortened to 142 games. The team lost 84 (two ties), a record that was 10 games worse than it should have been, based on the team’s runs scored and runs yielded.
On the flip side, the 2025 San Francisco Giants did something that hasn’t happened much in MLB history: They reeled off six one-run wins in a row from June 4 to 10. Their fans, happy while it was happening, must have been nervous wrecks.
That Giants streak tied the 1989 Angels and the 1916 St. Louis Browns for second most since 1901.
The 1927 Chicago Cubs set the all-time record with seven consecutive one-run victories. They won by a run from June 6 to 12 in the midst of a season-high 12-game winning streak, all at home. Two of the one-run victories were what today we call walk-offs. Two others were won at home with a run in the bottom of the eighth, their last time up. The Cubs’ winning streak also included another one-run victory on June 14.
In this pre-closers era, Cubs’ starting pitchers went the distance in four of the seven straight one-run wins, two of which – the walk-offs – went extra innings. The 12-game win streak saw the Cubs jump from fourth place to second, a game out of first, on June 16. Chicago was in first place most of time from in 1927 from July 7 to Sept. 1, leading by as many six games, before fading to a fourth-place finish.
In 1967, the Cincinnati Reds played an excruciating 11 consecutive one -run games, but won seven of them. Their taxed bullpen must have done pretty well. Reds fans probably needed a lot of anti-acids.
The Dodgers, on the other hand, began the 1986 season with 10 straight one-run games, but won just three of them. If you count the final game of 1985, the Dodgers actually played 11 one-run games in a row. They lost that last ’85 game, too.
The 1988 Braves are the most recent team to have played nine consecutive one-run games, losing eighth of them in late September. That team began the season with a 10-game losing streak and finished last with 106 losses. The Braves, of course, got a lot better when the 1990s rolled around. A team with Hall-of-Fame starters Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz would be hard pressed to lose 10 in a row.
The 2014 World- Series winning Giants also were involved in eight straight one-run games, going 4-4 in early April.
The 1978 San Diego Padres are the other team that has won as many as five consecutive one-run games in the past half-century.
Washington baseball history 