MLS History: Longest Unbeaten & Winless Streaks

I last posted the data on the longest overall, home and away streaks last July. This time, I've gone back and figured out not only the regular season streaks, but also streaks involving all competitions. Today, I'll post the overall streaks and then I'll post the home/away ones in the near future. A lot of the time, stats posted on this site are broken down into two categories: all competitions and regular season only. I try to do that whenever possible (especially with team performances), since I think that you can't tell the whole story just from the regular season matches. So yeah, it's always the ideal to have both categories, although it's not always possible due to lack of info or the amount of effort it takes. As always, shootouts (1996-99) are counted as draws. Most Games Unbeaten - REGULAR SEASON ONLY Games Record First Game Last Game 1 Columbus 19 9-0-10 2004-07-03 2005-04-02 2 DC United 16 11-0-5 1996-09-17 1997-06-14 3 Los Angeles 15 14-0-1 1997-09-07 1998-05-17 4 DC United 14 12-0-4 2006-05-13 2006-07-22 4 San Jose 14 11-0-3 2005-07-20 2005-10-15 6 DC United 13 9-0-4 2007-08-05 2007-10-13 7 Colorado 12 8-0-4 1998-09-16 1999-05-27 7 Dallas 12 6-0-6 1999-03-20 1999-06-05 7 Kansas City 12 10-0-2 2000-03-25 2000-05-27 7 Los Angeles 12 10-0-2 1996-04-13 1996-06-26 7 Los Angeles 12 7-0-5 1999-10-09 2000-05-20 7 Miami 12 9-0-3 2001-04-21 2001-07-04 7 New England 12 8-0-4 2004-10-16 2005-06-11 7 San Jose 12 7-0-5 2001-04-28 2001-07-04 15 Chicago 11 10-0-1 1998-05-16 1998-07-04 15 Chicago 11 5-0-6 2007-09-08 2008-04-12 15 Chivas USA 11 7-0-4 2007-08-18 2007-10-11 15 DC United 11 8-0-3 1999-07-25 1999-09-25 15 Houston 11 8-0-3 2007-06-03 2007-07-22 20 DC United 10 8-0-2 1998-07-02 1998-08-29 20 Houston 10 4-0-6 2006-05-27 2006-07-22 As I mentioned recently, SJ entered this season with a 14 game unbeaten streak. Unfortunately, they couldn't get any closer to the record (to no one's surprise). Columbus has held the top spot for nearly four years now. The Crew, or the Arsenal of MLS if you like, only managed to win fewer than half of the 19 games in their streak. They were the best team in what was probably the most parity filled MLS season ever, featuring good form from many current less regarded players like Edson Buddle, Jon Busch, and Kyle Martino. They then blew it in the 2004 playoffs, losing to the Revs in one of the more memorable series in playoff history. The opener saw Avery John scoring the only goal in his 81 game career with NE from long distance, in front of a horrible crowd of 5,000 people due to the Red Sox hosting game 1 of the World Series at the same time. Then of course, the Crew blew it by missing two penalties in the home leg. However, it definitely seemed to me that DC was the hotter team entering the playoffs (they had just signed Christian Gomez) and I didn't expect them to get to the cup any way. Meanwhile, last year's Fire team is the worst team to be on this list at 1.33 ppg (10-10-10). I'm counting the year that most of the games took place in, obviously. Most Games Unbeaten - ALL COMPETITIONS Games Record First Game Last Game 1 DC United 24 18-0-6 1996-09-17 1997-06-14 2 Columbus 15 7-0-8 2004-07-24 2004-10-16 2 New England 15 9-0-6 2004-10-16 2005-06-11 4 DC United 14 12-0-4 2006-05-13 2006-07-22 5 Chicago 13 9-0-4 1998-10-01 1999-05-08 5 DC United 13 11-0-2 1998-07-02 1998-08-29 5 Miami 13 10-0-3 2001-04-21 2001-07-04 5 San Jose 13 8-0-5 2001-04-28 2001-07-04 9 Chicago 12 11-0-1 1998-05-16 1998-07-06 9 Dallas 12 6-0-6 1999-03-20 1999-06-05 9 DC United 12 9-0-3 2004-10-02 2005-04-09 9 Kansas City 12 10-0-2 2000-03-25 2000-05-27 9 Los Angeles 12 10-0-2 1996-04-13 1996-06-26 14 Chivas USA 11 7-0-4 2007-08-18 2007-10-11 14 DC United 11 8-0-3 1999-08-08 1999-09-28 14 Los Angeles 11 6-0-5 2000-03-18 2000-05-20 14 New York 11 9-0-2 2000-06-14 2000-07-25 18 Chicago 10 4-0-6 2007-09-08 2007-11-01 18 Dallas 10 4-0-6 2005-10-05 2006-04-29 18 DC United 10 8-0-2 2007-08-18 2007-09-29 18 Houston 10 4-0-6 2006-05-27 2006-07-22 18 Kansas City 10 7-0-3 2004-06-05 2004-07-24 The big change here is DC taking over the top spot at a massive 24 games in a row. The streak consists of the last two games of the 1996 regular season, six games in the playoffs, two games in the US Open Cup, and then the first fourteen games of the 1997 season. They won the double along the way, with Raul Diaz Arce scoring 19 goals in those 24 games. Jaime Moreno only scored 14 times. They ended the streak with a bang fitting its status, losing 6-1 at KC for the worst loss in team history. KC was the only team in the league they didn't beat during the 24 games. Teams never to have a 10-game unbeaten streak in either category: RSL, TB, TOR. Most Games Winless - REGULAR SEASON ONLY Games Record First Game Last Game 1 New York 19 0-15-4 1999-05-22 1999-09-05 2 Real Salt Lake 18 0-16-2 2005-08-10 2006-05-06 3 Real Salt Lake 15 0-6-9 2006-09-23 2007-06-17 4 Columbus 13 0-7-6 1996-05-15 1996-07-20 4 Columbus 13 0-7-6 2006-06-10 2006-08-16 6 Toronto 12 0-8-4 2007-07-07 2007-09-29 7 Chivas USA 11 0-9-2 2005-05-14 2005-07-02 7 San Jose 11 0-5-6 1999-03-20 1999-05-27 9 Real Salt Lake 10 0-8-2 2005-05-21 2005-07-16 9 Miami 10 0-7-3 1998-05-16 1998-07-18 9 Tampa Bay 10 0-9-1 2001-04-28 2001-06-16 9 San Jose 10 0-4-6 2004-09-08 2005-04-16 9 Colorado 10 0-7-3 2007-06-02 2007-08-04 9 Dallas 10 0-7-3 2005-07-02 2005-09-10 9 DC United 10 0-6-4 2002-07-04 2002-08-25 9 Kansas City 10 0-8-2 1998-09-17 1999-04-28 9 Los Angeles 10 0-8-2 2006-05-06 2006-06-24 9 New England 10 0-8-2 1999-07-11 1999-09-04 No points for guessing this one. The 1999 Metrostars have been beaten to death over the years, as we've always heard tales about how retched they were. RSL bashing is still new enough to amuse me though, so keep it up. Three ten game streaks already? Wow. I could write a very interesting article debating what's been worse: the on the field play or the off the field decision making. 4/5 expansion seasons are on this list. The other one can be seen on the above two lists. Most Games Winless - ALL COMPETITIONS Games Record First Game Last Game 1 New York 20 0-16-4 1999-05-22 1999-09-05 2 Real Salt Lake 18 0-16-2 2005-08-10 2006-05-06 3 Columbus 13 0-7-6 1996-05-15 1996-07-20 4 Toronto 12 0-8-4 2007-07-07 2007-09-29 5 Chivas USA 11 0-9-2 2005-05-14 2005-07-02 5 Real Salt Lake 11 0-9-2 2005-05-21 2005-07-16 5 San Jose 11 0-5-6 1999-03-20 1999-05-27 8 Chivas USA 10 0-8-2 2005-08-03 2005-09-24 8 Real Salt Lake 10 0-6-4 2007-04-21 2007-06-17 8 Tampa Bay 10 0-9-1 2001-04-28 2001-06-16 8 Colorado 10 0-6-4 2001-05-16 2001-06-30 8 Colorado 10 0-4-6 2003-09-18 2004-04-17 8 DC United 10 0-6-4 2002-07-04 2002-08-25 8 Kansas City 10 0-8-2 1998-09-17 1999-04-28 8 Kansas City 10 0-8-2 2003-07-26 2003-09-20 8 Los Angeles 10 0-6-4 2003-04-05 2003-05-31 8 Los Angeles 10 0-8-2 2006-05-06 2006-06-24 8 New England 10 0-8-2 1997-07-20 1997-09-09 8 New England 10 0-8-2 1999-07-11 1999-09-04 8 New York 10 0-7-3 1998-08-22 1999-03-20 Teams never to have a 10-game winless streak in either category: CHI, HOU.