Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson might not be having a great season like he did the year before, but he is leaving his mark in another way.
MLB stars are getting injured at a higher rate than ever before, but Olson is the closest thing to an “ironman” there is in baseball right now.
Matt Olson Is Chasing MLB Legends On Impressive All-Time List
Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson might not be having a great season like he did the year before, but he is leaving his mark in another way.
MLB stars are getting injured at a higher rate than ever before, but Olson is the closest thing to an “ironman” there is in baseball right now.
The guy just shows up to the ballpark, wears his uniform, and plays.
It doesn’t matter if he is being bothered by a nagging injury or if he has a headache: he plays.
He has been suiting up for 505 straight games by this point, and it’s the longest active streak in baseball.
Only a handful of players have enjoyed longer stints of consecutive games since the turn of the millennium.
“Matt Olson has played 505 consecutive games, dating to 5/2/21. Only longer streaks since 2000: 2000-07 Miguel Tejada: 1,152; 2018-22 Whit Merrifield: 553; 2010-14 Prince Fielder: 547; 2000-03 Alex Rodriguez: 546; 2003-06 Hideki Matsui: 518; 2004-07 Mark Teixeira: 507,” MLB stats expert Sarah Langs tweeted.
Matt Olson Is Chasing MLB Legends On Impressive All-Time List
Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson might not be having a great season like he did the year before, but he is leaving his mark in another way.
MLB stars are getting injured at a higher rate than ever before, but Olson is the closest thing to an “ironman” there is in baseball right now.
The guy just shows up to the ballpark, wears his uniform, and plays.
It doesn’t matter if he is being bothered by a nagging injury or if he has a headache: he plays.
He has been suiting up for 505 straight games by this point, and it’s the longest active streak in baseball.
Only a handful of players have enjoyed longer stints of consecutive games since the turn of the millennium.
“Matt Olson has played 505 consecutive games, dating to 5/2/21. Only longer streaks since 2000: 2000-07 Miguel Tejada: 1,152; 2018-22 Whit Merrifield: 553; 2010-14 Prince Fielder: 547; 2000-03 Alex Rodriguez: 546; 2003-06 Hideki Matsui: 518; 2004-07 Mark Teixeira: 507,” MLB stats expert Sarah Langs tweeted.
Matt Olson has played 505 consecutive games, dating to 5/2/21
only longer streaks since 2000:
2000-07 Miguel Tejada: 1,152
2018-22 Whit Merrifield: 553
2010-14 Prince Fielder: 547
2000-03 Alex Rodriguez: 546
2003-06 Hideki Matsui: 518
2004-07 Mark Teixeira: 507h/t…
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) May 23, 2024
Miguel Tejada, a former MVP and Oakland Athletics legend, didn’t miss a game in the early-2000s.
Whit Merrifield had a 500+ game streak interrupted in 2022, while former stars such as Price Fielder, A-Rod, Hideki Matsui and Mark Teixeira also put together similar streaks in which they played at least 500 straight games.
It’s not easy to achieve: we are talking about years of commitment and playing through pain on occasion.
This is the most fascinating thing about this: if Olson manages to play out the 2024 season, he will surpass all those streaks mentioned by Slangs in her tweet, except for Tejada’s.
It would be an impressive achievement, especially in the era of platoons, rest days, and load management.
