The New York Mets entered Wednesday less than 10 games away from the longest MLB losing streak of the 21st century. That title still belongs to the 2024 Chicago White Sox, who lost 21 straight contests during their historically bad season, and the Mets will get no closer after they defeated the Minnesota Twins, 3-2, on Wednesday night.The victory snaps a 12-game losing streak that had plummeted the Mets to the very bottom of the standings. Mark Vientos, who had been cut down at the plate while trying to score earlier in the game, was the hero, his two-out single in the bottom of the eighth plating the winning run.The win — which came in Juan Soto's return — was not entirely satisfactory to the reeling Mets.
They saw star shortstop Francisco Lindor exit with what the team called left calf tightness.While they hold their breath over Lindor, they can at least rest easy knowing their winners for a night: When did the Mets' losing streak begin?The Mets' losing streak began after the team started 7-4. They then lost 7-2 to the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 8, which started a catastrophic chain of events that led us to where we are now.Since then, the Mets lost another game to the Diamondbacks, were swept by the Athletics, Dodgers, and Cubs, and then dropped their opener to the Twins. Longest losing streaks in Mets historyThe longest losing streak in Mets history came during the team's inaugural season in 1962.
That team not only lost a franchise record 17 straight games during the season but also had other losing streaks of 13 and 11 games. Since the turn of the century, the longest losing streak in Mets history stands at 12 games, a tie between their losing streak coming into Wednesday night and the 2002 team, which lost those 12 consecutive games between Aug. 20 and Aug. 31 that year.Longest losing streaks in MLB historyThe longest losing streak of the 21st century belongs to the 2024 Chicago White Sox, who lost 21 straight games. However, that is not the longest such streak in MLB history. That dishonor belongs to the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies, who lost 23 straight games.Here is a list of every team in the modern era (since 1901) to have lost at least 20 consecutive games:1961 Philadelphia Phillies – 232024 Chicago White Sox – 211988 Baltimore Orioles – 211969 Montreal Expos – 201943 Philadelphia Athletics – 201916 Philadelphia Athletics – 201906 Boston Americans – 20This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mets losing streak ends with victory over Twins