If there is one thing I learned from asking for some Beat the Streak-related comments, it’s that ohmygütness do you people really really love this little fantasy game. I mean, you people love Beat the Streak more than the Real Housewives of New York love being insane. Or more than I loved busting out that u with the two dots on top of it.

Ü

How spectacular is that? It’s like a smiley face with an oversized mouth and no nose. Or like some strange math symbol you’ve never seen before that just appears on your Calculus final exam and immediately punches you in the stomach and makes you cross-eyed.

I love those.

Anyway, here are real e-mails sent from real villagers of Streakville:

Hello.  Since you invited questions, there are a couple of things I’ve been wondering.  First, when someone does get to 57, what happens to Beat the Streak?  Will it end there?  Be replaced with something else?  Also, as long as no one gets it, will the prize money continue to increase year by year (if you have any idea)? 

-Daniel M

Interesante.  Daniel, I like your style.  I’ll be totally honest – I have no idea as to the answer of either of these pointed questions. What I do like is Daniel’s unabashed confidencehere. Asking what happens to Beat the Streak when someone actually beats the streak and gets to 57 is like asking a nuclear scientist, “So, once you solve cold fusion, are you going to tackle human teleporting next?” Maybe it’s just me and it’s because it’s my job to monitor the game up close on a day-to-day basis, but let’s not count our chickens before they hatch, ya know? We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.  And I’ll stop using nonsensical clichés …NOW.

As for Part II, I also don’t know. Glad, I’m here. We’re at $3 million now. Last year we were at $1 million and upped that to $1,500,000. So we are currently on pace so that in the year 2025, the Beat the Streak prize money will be somewhere around $85 billion, also known as the opposite of what MacGruber took down at the box office last week; we’re the anti-MacGruber.

What is the longest non-hitting streak in the game?   

-Jeff J.

Love this. This is actually an idea we have toyed around with for some time – creating Beat the Streak: Bizarro Edition. It’d become a game where research entails:

Well, I don’t know if I can take Jason Kendall, his .184 average against Ian Snell is just too high! Snell’s ERA is ONLY 5.28?? Anyone know who Roy Halladay is facing? Is anyone playing a tripleheader?

And while we’re here, here’s my Bizarro Beat the Streak starting lineup:

C: Gerald Laird (.162 AVG)

1B: Carlos Pena (.176)

2B: Luis Valbuena (.134(!))

SS: Adam Everett* (.189)

3B: Brandon Wood (.156)

RF: Willie Harris (.179)

CF: Nate McLouth (.179)

LF: Kyle Blanks (.157)

DH : Ken Griffey Jr. (.184 )

* = Captain

And don’t think it was easy leaving Garrett Atkins off this list.

It wasn’t.

Hi Dave – I think you’re doing an AWESOME job with the report – keep up the great work!!   The reports are entertaining as well as informative and I look forward to reading them.

 – Carol-Ann S. (nardberg)

Oh, well, hello to you … 

Oh, wait, there’s more …

One question that I’ve heard a lot (and I wonder as well) is….how many active players are there???  

Thanks for the compliments, Carol, and thanks even more for the excess question marks, I can’t ever get enough of those.

I’ll be real.  I don’t have an exact number, but I will say that there are a lot of Beat the Streak active players. Tons, really. At least double the highest number kids ever count to when they see if they can count to a million.

And that’s pretty high.

As far as doubleheaders go, I think that you should be credited with 2 games if your player
gets a hit in each game, rather than needing hits in both games to just get credit for 1 game. 

-David S.

Couldn’t agree with you more, David. In fact, I’m pretty sure “lavolpe” is still writing his Beat the Streak Ph. D dissertation, “Doubleheaders: Double the fun, but double the risk” on the BTS blog as we speak. I kid, “lavolpe,” I love the enthusiasm.

Anyway, I too think that if your player gets a hit in each of the doubleheader games you should get credited with two hits for the price of one. It’s a fun all-or-nothing strategy and an easy way to get your streak up to a respectable number in a hurry. It’s like going for the special video bonus round on “Cash Cab”. Who wouldn’t risk it all and go for the special video bonus round on “Cash Cab”?  And furthermore, would you ever want to be friends with somebody that didn’t go for the special video bonus round?

Exactly. And here at Beat the Streak, we want to be your friend.

In short, I’ll see what we can do for next year.

Hi David,

Can you get this done?

Add Carlos Zambrano to Chi Cubs list hitters to pick from in HR BTS.  He swings a mean bat and now that he is returning to the starting rotation he will be batting again.  As tough as HR BTS is he would be someone I would take as my streak is usually at zero anyway!

–dragbunt104

Why not, right? My question is, why limit it to Home Run Beat the Streak?

If you have the audacity to risk everything and bank on a pitcher getting a hit in one of our games, you should not only be saluted, but you should be rewarded exponentially. I’d actually be in favor of crediting you with a +7 on your streak. In fact, I think it’s time we vary up the rewards for your player getting a hit into tiers.

Here’s what I’m thinking: 

If you select a pitcher, say Carlos Zambrano, and he gets a hit, that’s +7 onto your streak.

If you select a backup catcher, say Alex Avila, you get +5.

If you select someone that should be a backup catcher, say Matt Treanor, you get +3.

And, of course, if you select a Molina brother, you get +2.

How is this not an incredible idea?

What happens if a player is removed after 2 at bats with no hits? (2 strikeouts) Is the streak over?

Thanks!

Brian Gelman

Yes. And while we’re here, I’d like to address the exclamation mark (!) at the end of “Thanks!” issue. It’s a problem we all deal with every day. We e-mail a co-worker, co-worker does a favor for us, we are appreciative that said favor has been completed, we want to show appreciation for the completed favor and we end up panicking and drop the (!) at the end of thanks. This happens to us all.

Not that it wakes me up at night in a pool of sweat, but I think it’s time we pump the brakes on this little procedure; I just always feel like a five-year-old whenever I toss around !s.

I refuse to believe I’m alone here.

And I understand the lack of alternatives – you don’t want to come off as rude and you don’t want to go with an all-caps “THANKS” since it looks like you are yelling at the guy.

I don’t have an easy solution. A period (.) somewhat gets the job done, but doesn’t hammer the point home strong enough.

Which brings us back to Ü.

Perfect.

Thanks Ü

Anyway, thanks for all the e-mails.  Feel free to drop be a line at david.feldman@mlb.com whenever you desire.

Also, please start following our new Twitter account:  @Beat_the_Streak

-Dave