MLB 'Beat The Streak' Is Still A Thing And Someone Just Suffered Absolute Heartbreak In Quest For $5.6 Million

If you're like me, at some point in your life you played the MLB.com game, "Beat the Streak." If you haven't, here's a quick rundown of how it works. Each day, you select a Major League Baseball hitter. If that player gets a hit, your streak continues. If he doesn't, you go back to zero. The rules are the same as hitting streaks for actual MLB hitters, too. If your player doesn't bat for some reason – or if he walks in all of his plate appearances – the streak doesn't end and just stays where it is. 

MLB started this contest in 2001 and the goal has always been the same: to beat Joe DiMaggio's record of getting a hit in 56 consecutive games. In the 24 years of "Beat the Streak," no player has ever eclipsed the 56-game mark, which comes with a hefty, and appropriate, cash prize of $5.6 million. The longest streak in history is 51 games and has been accomplished twice. According to MLB.com, over 100 users have amassed a streak of at least 40 games. 

Well, on Monday, the longest streak of the season came to an end. And it happened in heartbreaking fashion. A user named "lotank" had a 50-game streak going into Monday's action. The player selected A's rookie Jacob Wilson against the Houston Astros. Wilson entered the game with a .367 batting average and had registered at least one hit in three-straight games and 13 of his past 14. 

You probably know where this is going. Wilson grounded out in the first inning, struck out in the third inning, and grounded out in the fifth inning. He came to the plate in the eighth with a runner on first base and one out in a tie game. Wilson hit a shallow pop-up down the right-field line into what's known as "no man's land." The Astros right fielder, second baseman and first baseman all converged, but none of them could catch it. It looked like Wilson would record the hit that "Iotank" needed to keep the streak alive. 

The MLB "Beat the Streak" game, which has a top prize of $5.6 million, has been around for over 20 years and has still never had a winner. A user came close, but lost his 50-game streak on Monday when A's rookie Jacob Wilson went hitless. 

(Denny Medley/Imagn Images)

Unfortunately, the runner on first had to hold to make sure the ball wasn't caught. And the ball took a bad bounce (if you're an A's fan or "Iotank") and hopped right into the lap of the right fielder. He fired the ball to second base for the force out, and the streak ended. Although "Iotank" wasn't quite done yet. The game remained tied into the bottom of the ninth so, theoretically, extra innings could have afforded Wilson another at-bat. Unfortunately for the "Beat the Streak" player, Nick Kurtz hit a walk-off homer to win it for the A's to officially kill his hopes and dreams. 

Woof. That's an absolutely brutal way for the streak to end. Had there not been a runner on first base – or had there been two outs instead of one – Wilson would have recorded the hit that "Iotank" needed, and the player would have tied the 51-game "Beat the Streak" record. More importantly, they would have been six games away from winning $5.6 million. Tough break.