There was a time that a baseball team could not win a game unless it scored 21 runs, or more properly, "aces". And I believe if you passed 21, you went bust, the house won, and everyone on the team had to ante up for a new hand. What could you do? Those were the rules, and we liked them.

Of course that time was about 160 years ago when Alexander Joy Cartwright and the Kinckerbocker club codified the game, but the Braves appear set to bring that era back. Well, they haven't scored 21 a game, but have scored at least ten for the past five games, and look to me like the team to beat for the wild card in the second half (another of my bold predictions that is sure to put the kibosh on this team).

It is the first time in over 76 years that a team has scored ten runs in five straight games, and just the ninth time since the turn of the twentieth century (though the feat has been accomplished 87 times in baseball history). Since the All-Star break the Braves have scored 15 and 11 runs against the Padres and 10, 15, and 14 against the Cards, all on the road, winning all five games.

For the record, here are the teams that have scored at least ten runs in five straight games since 1897, the last year that the Braves franchise (then the Boston Beaneaters) accomplished the feat:

As for the Braves franchise, they are the ones to score ten runs in five straight games the most in baseball history. This is their 24th time:

The all-time franchise "record" for consecutive games with at least ten runs is eight by the 1875 club. Of the 87 teams that have completed five-game streaks, just 36 extended that streak to six games. The last to do so was the 1929 Giants. Here are the teams that ran their streaks to six games since the founding of the National League (in 1876):

With the Braves facing Chris Carpenter tonight, one would assume that their scoring streak would end at five games, but keep in mind that Carpenter allowed seven runs in seven innings en route to a 10-6 loss on June 23 against Detroit. With the Phils starting pitching in their next series, the Braves could beat their franchise record of eight straight ten-run games.

By the way, the "record" for consecutive games with at least ten runs scored is eleven. It was recorded in 1873 by the Philadelphia Whites (or White Caps). They scored a total of 170 runs over their streak for an average of 15.45 per game. They exceeded ten runs in all but the eleventh game.

The Braves are also the first team since the 1950 Red Sox to score at least 65 runs over a five-game span and just the 17th since 1900 (ant the 400th overall). The 1950 Sox actually accomplished the feat four times during the season, thanks to two consecutive games with at least twenty runs scored:

The most runs scored in five games is 116 runs or an average of 23.20 per game by the old Philadelphia Athletics in 1871, who had game scores of 49 (!), 22, and 20 twice during that span. That was their ninth to thirteenth games, but they had scored 34, 31, and 25 runs in their first eight games. The most since 1900 was 82 by the 1950 Red Sox. The Braves franchsie "record" is 102 by the 1873 club, the most besides the 1871 Philly A's: