Who’s got the longest active streak of not being no-hit, through the 2024 season?
Shōta Imanaga, Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge combined on a no-hitter against the Pirates at Wrigley Field this past Sept. 4, the first Cubs no-hitter at Wrigley in more than 52 years.
Here are the final three outs of that no-no, thrown by Hodge [VIDEO].
The 2024 no-hitter was the third in Cubs history where they scored at least 12 runs. They also scored 12 Sept. 13, 2020 (Alec Mills over the Brewers) and scored 16 (the Modern Era record for runs scored in a no-hitter) in Jake Arrieta’s no-no against the Reds April 21, 2016.
The Pirates were one of four teams that were no-hit during the 2024 season. Also held without a hit were the Blue Jays (by the Astros’ Ronel Blanco), the Nationals (by the Padres’ Dylan Cease) and the Reds (by the Giants’ Blake Snell).
So, I thought now would be a good time to update this article I wrote last offseason about all teams’ streaks of not being no-hit. The Cubs, as you know, hold the MLB record for such things, going 7,920 games without being no-hit in between Sandy Koufax’ perfect game in 1965 and Cole Hamels no-hitting his future team for the Phillies in 2015.
The Cubs did get one-hit twice in 2024, once by Cease at Wrigley Field on May 8. The only hit was an infield single by, of all people, Yan Gomes [VIDEO].
That was a pretty close play, too. If not for that, the Cubs’ streak might have ended. Instead, it continues, now at 1,423 games. As was the case last year, the Cubs rank 12th among all teams for the longest active streak of not being no-hit. The leader continues to be the Angels, who were last no-hit Sept. 11, 1999, by Eric Milton of the Twins. The Angels will enter 2025 with 3,969 consecutive games of not being no-hit, just over 50 percent as many games as the Cubs’ record streak. Assuming the 162-game schedule remains in effect — and that’s not guaranteed — the Angels wouldn’t break the Cubs’ streak until sometime around early 2050. So the Cubs’ mark appears safe, for now, at least.
One slight surprise this year is that the woeful 121-loss White Sox, who were last in MLB in pretty much every offensive category, didn’t get no-hit. They were one-hit once, by the Orioles May 26, the only hit a solo homer by Danny Mendick. After that game, then-manager Pedro Grifol threw his entire team under the bus:
After losing 4-1 Sunday at home to the #Orioles, Chicago White Sox manager Pedro Grifol described his team as “f***ing flat!” On Monday he “doubled down” on that statement. They lost again 5-1 to the Blue Jays. The Sox come to Milwaukee to play the #Brewers Friday.
— Mike Clemens (@MikeClemensNFL) May 28, 2024
So that was fun.
The Nationals, who were no-hit by Cease this year, were also no-hit last year, by Michael Lorenzen Aug. 9, 2023, while Lorenzen was a Phillie. This year’s no-hitter against the Nats was the eighth in Expos/Nationals history, since the team was created in 1969. The Cubs have been no-hit seven times… in nearly 100 more years.
Here’s hoping someone no-hits the Angels next year, so that the Cubs’ streak can remain the record for decades to come. If that happens, the next team up is the Royals, who are nearly nine years behind the Angels (fun fact: that no-hitter against Kansas City was thrown by Jon Lester). Here’s the entire list for all 30 MLB teams, as of the end of the 2024 season: