The Streak

Thoughts on The Great DiMag and other consecutive matters, by Greg Wroblewski

This article is about the extraordinary rarity of Joe DiMaggio’s famous hitting streak. It will provide a definitive answer to these two questions:

1. Given his level of hitting performance in 1941, how likely was DiMaggio to hit in 56 consecutive games?

2.  Is DiMaggio’s streak the least likely streak of 30 games or longer? How likely were the others?

It will also shed some light on the answers to more speculative questions, like the following: 

• Which types of batting characteristics are most conducive to hitting in streaks?
• Which modern players are most likely to produce hit streaks?
• Is there any reasonable likelihood that the streak will be broken?

Table Of Contents

Introduction

The math

The probability of DiMaggio achieving various streaks in 1941

The comparative likelihood of all the 30+ game hit streaks achieved in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The most likely modern players to challenge the streak.

Download the spreadsheet

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