Key takeaways
- Quote 116 wins as the single-season record, and say it has been reached twice: by the 1906 Chicago Cubs (116-36) and the 2001 Seattle Mariners (116-46).
- Compare great seasons by winning percentage as well as wins, because the 154-game schedule was standard until 1960 and older seasons included ties.
- Date the 162-game schedule correctly: the American League adopted it with expansion in 1961 and the National League in 1962.
- Treat an unbeaten 162-game season as effectively impossible: even the best record over 162 games includes 46 losses.
- Read a projected 162-0 in a draft game as a model's verdict on a roster, not as a statement about what real baseball allows.
No major-league team has gone 162-0, and none has come close. The most wins in a season is 116, reached twice: by the 1906 Chicago Cubs, who went 116-36, and the 2001 Seattle Mariners, who went 116-46. Baseball-Reference lists the 2001 mark as the best record over a 162-game schedule, and MLB.com lists the 1906 winning percentage of .763 as the highest on record since 1900. Even the best team over 162 games lost 46 times — more than one game in every four.
The season itself has not always been 162 games. It became that long in 1961 in the American League and 1962 in the National, when expansion to ten teams changed the arithmetic of who played whom.
The record book
Every figure below is taken from the source named beside it, and each club is named the way that source names it, only to identify the record.
| Record | Mark | Club and season | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Most wins in a season | 116 | Chicago Cubs, 1906; Seattle Mariners, 2001 | Baseball-Reference; MLB.com |
| Best record in a 162-game season | 116-46 | Seattle Mariners, 2001 | Baseball-Reference |
| Next-best 162-game record | 114-48 | New York Yankees, 1998 | Baseball-Reference |
| Best winning percentage since 1900 | .763 (116-36) | Chicago Cubs, 1906 | MLB.com; Baseball-Reference |
| Best American League winning percentage | .721 (111-43) | Cleveland, 1954 | MLB.com |
| Most wins in a season since 2001 | 111 | Los Angeles Dodgers, 2022 | MLB.com |
| Longest winning streak | 26 games | New York Giants, 1916 | MLB.com |
| Longest American League winning streak | 22 games | Cleveland, 2017 | MLB.com |
Why "116" hides two different achievements
The two 116-win seasons were not played on the same terms. SABR's history of the schedule shows the 154-game season was standard from 1904 to 1960, so the 1906 Cubs were playing a shorter year than the 2001 Mariners. The sources also count that 1906 season differently: Baseball-Reference says the Cubs reached 116 wins "in just 155 games," while MLB.com describes it as a 152-game schedule. The difference is the gap between games played and decisions — 116 wins and 36 losses make 152 decisions, so three of Baseball-Reference's 155 games ended with neither result.
Either way, the 1906 Cubs lost ten fewer games than the 2001 Mariners. That is why they hold the percentage mark, while the Mariners own the 162-game mark outright.
The same tension shows up elsewhere in MLB.com's list. The 1927 Yankees' 110-44 works out to a .714 winning percentage, slightly better than the .704 of the 1998 Yankees' 114-48, despite four fewer wins. When schedules differ, wins and winning percentage can point at different "best" seasons, and both answers are defensible as long as you say which one you mean.
Streaks are a different record
A season record measures sustained quality; a winning streak measures a hot stretch. MLB.com credits the 1916 New York Giants with the longest run, 26 consecutive victories, and describes Cleveland's 22-game run in 2017 as the longest in American League history. Twenty-six straight wins is still only about a sixth of a 162-game season. A perfect season would be a streak more than six times longer than anything in the record book.
Why the season is 162 games
The number is the product of league size. SABR's article on schedule changes, published in its 1973 Baseball Research Journal, traces the history:
| Period | What the schedule looked like (per SABR) |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 70 games: eight National League teams playing each other 10 times |
| 1877–78 | 60 games, the shortest ever, with six teams |
| 1879–1891 | Gradually lengthened from 84 to 140 games |
| 1892 | The first 154-game schedule, in a 12-team National League |
| 1904–1960 | The "traditional" 154: eight teams, 22 games against each opponent, interrupted only in 1918 and 1919 |
| 1961 | The American League expands to ten teams and plays 162 |
| 1962 | The National League follows |
The arithmetic is simple once you see it. Eight teams playing each of seven opponents 22 times gives 154 games. Ten teams playing each of nine opponents 18 times gives 162. SABR's 1973 article notes that 1961 was, to that point, the only year in which the two leagues played schedules of unequal length, because only one of them had expanded.
Two near-misses show the number was never sacred. In 1946, according to SABR, the majors tentatively agreed to a 168-game schedule before opposition from the public and players brought them back to 154. In 1968 the National League tentatively agreed to 165 games for its first 12-team season, before going along with the American League's divisional plan. And 162 has not always been played in full: SABR records that a strike at the start of the 1972 season cancelled games and left clubs with uneven totals of 153 to 156.
Is 162-0 possible?
In principle, yes; in practice, no. The probability arithmetic is set out in understanding probability in sports simulations, so one line will do here: a team that won each game independently with a 0.763 probability — the best winning percentage MLB.com lists — would sweep 162 games roughly once in 10 quintillion seasons (0.763 raised to the 162nd power). Real games are not independent coin flips with a fixed probability, so treat that as an illustration of scale rather than a calculation of anything real.
The more intuitive version is in the record book. The best team over a 162-game season still lost 46 games, and the best team by percentage still lost 36. Every opponent is also a major-league team, and across a full season even the strongest clubs lose regularly.
Where "162-0" comes from in a game
A perfect season is a target that only exists in simulation, and that is the idea behind 162-0 Baseball Draft & GM Team. You draft nine players and a coach, comparing them on ERA, WHIP, home runs, on-base ability, fielding, speed and WAR, and the game's season simulator returns a projected 162-game record based on roster quality, position fit, hitting, pitching, speed, defence and coaching. The game is explicit that the perfect 162-0 result is designed to be rare, and that stacking one kind of star tends to show up in the projection.
It is worth being precise about what that projection is. It is a model's verdict on the roster you assembled, not a forecast of any real team or season, and the game has no live results. The draft pool is built from real players' careers, with ratings that are the game's own estimates. Our guide to the draft game covers how to read a projected record as a diagnosis, and how sports simulation engines work explains how ratings become results.
If you would rather live through a season than project one, Baseball Career Sim 2026 follows one player through standings, streaks, awards and postseason pressure across a full schedule, in a fictional league with fictional teams and players. Our other baseball guides are on the baseball hub.
Neither game is affiliated with or endorsed by any league, team, players' association or player. The clubs, MLB.com, Baseball-Reference and SABR are named only to identify the records cited, and MLB and club names are trademarks of their owners. Our full range of sports titles is under sports career and GM games.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Has any MLB team gone 162-0?
What is the best record in MLB history?
When did baseball go from 154 to 162 games?
Why is the baseball season 162 games?
What is the longest winning streak in MLB history?
Sources
- Major League Team Wins Records (opens in a new tab)Baseball-Reference.com — accessed
- Best Regular Season Record For Every MLB Team (opens in a new tab)MLB.com — accessed
- Schedule Changes Since 1876 (opens in a new tab)Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) — accessed
- Indians 22-game win streak lives on in history (opens in a new tab)MLB.com — accessed
League, team and athlete names appear here only to identify the rules, records and history being discussed. Reign Creative LLC's sports games are not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by any league, team, players' association or athlete, and all names and marks belong to their owners.
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