Team Scoreless Streaks and SHO%

Last weekend, regular reader Ken alerted me to the fact the Royals hadn't scored in 26 innings (they scored in the first inning the next day). He noted that he didn't think this was a record for them but thought it might be an interesting topic for a post. I thought that was a good idea and looked up the Royals record (32 innings from July 5 through July 9, 2004). Unfortunately, the numbers for other teams were harder to figure out, at least the way I was approaching the task, so I decided to look up a couple other shutout-related team numbers.

First up is the longest streak of consecutive games in which each MLB team has been shut out since 1956. I've also noted the frequency of that number of consecutive games for each team and the dates of the most recent such stretch of games.

Consecutive Games Shut Out For Each MLB Team, 1956-2007

Team	Games	Frequency	Start	End
Arizona Diamondbacks	2	4	5/29/2004	5/30/2004
Atlanta Braves	4	1	5/8/1985	5/12/1985
Baltimore Orioles	3	1	7/29/1957	7/31/1957
Boston Red Sox	3	3	4/27/1981	4/29/1981
Chicago Cubs	4	2	4/27/1992	5/1/1992
Chicago White Sox	3	4	7/21/1968	7/24/1968
Cincinnati Reds	3	1	4/18/1989	4/21/1989
Cleveland Indians	3	5	6/12/1991	6/14/1991
Colorado Rockies	2	4	7/21/2007	7/22/2007
Detroit Tigers	3	4	9/29/1995	10/1/1995
Florida Marlins	2	6	6/21/2005	6/22/2005
Houston Astros	4	2	9/9/1966	9/11/1966
Kansas City Royals	3	1	7/5/2004	7/7/2004
Los Angeles Angels	3	1	6/24/1978	6/26/1978
Los Angeles Dodgers	3	3	8/5/2007	8/8/2007
Milwaukee Brewers	3	1	5/3/1972	5/6/1972
Minnesota Twins	4	1	9/19/1958	9/22/1958
New York Mets	3	3	7/25/1992	7/27/1992
New York Yankees	3	3	7/27/1975	7/28/1975
Oakland Athletics	3	4	9/9/1979	9/12/1979
Philadelphia Phillies	3	7	5/20/1983	5/24/1983
Pittsburgh Pirates	3	3	8/28/1968	8/30/1968
San Diego Padres	3	3	7/5/1976	7/7/1976
San Francisco Giants	3	3	6/23/1992	6/25/1992
Seattle Mariners	2	23	7/21/2007	7/22/2007
St. Louis Cardinals	3	2	10/2/1976	10/3/1976
Tampa Bay Rays	2	4	4/28/2004	4/29/2004
Texas Rangers	4	1	9/1/1964	9/5/1964
Toronto Blue Jays	3	2	8/24/1990	8/26/1990
Washington Nationals	3	3	4/13/2004	4/15/2004

That table might not have been particularly thrilling. I do think it's interesting how the Mariners have hit two games in a row so often but never quite made it to three in a row. While I was looking up shutout data, I decided to check out the number of times shut out and total games played for each franchise since 1956. Obviously expansion teams have played fewer games and many have the advantage of playing in more run-friendly era for most of their existence, but it should be interesting nonetheless.

Times Shut Out and Games Played, 1956-2007

Team	Times Shut Out	Total Games Played	SHO%
New York Mets	530	7320	7.24
San Diego Padres	447	6194	7.22
Washington Nationals	437	6188	7.06
Los Angeles Angels	523	7487	6.99
Houston Astros	502	7329	6.85
Chicago Cubs	548	8257	6.64
Philadelphia Phillies	543	8253	6.58
Texas Rangers	487	7473	6.52
Pittsburgh Pirates	532	8248	6.45
Minnesota Twins	520	8254	6.30
Atlanta Braves	518	8248	6.28
Los Angeles Dodgers	516	8258	6.25
Oakland Athletics	511	8256	6.19
Tampa Bay Rays	100	1617	6.18
Baltimore Orioles	505	8239	6.13
St. Louis Cardinals	505	8251	6.12
Kansas City Royals	376	6181	6.08
Cleveland Indians	501	8238	6.08
San Francisco Giants	496	8257	6.01
Chicago White Sox	486	8254	5.89
Detroit Tigers	482	8257	5.84
Florida Marlins	136	2363	5.76
Milwaukee Brewers	355	6189	5.74
New York Yankees	469	8252	5.68
Seattle Mariners	277	4899	5.65
Arizona Diamondbacks	90	1620	5.56
Toronto Blue Jays	271	4900	5.53
Cincinnati Reds	452	8253	5.48
Boston Red Sox	444	8251	5.38
Colorado Rockies	114	2368	4.81