Alonso hits 500 straight as Olson nears Braves record

Pete Alonso reached 500 straight games, moving to 501 after Sunday, while Matt Olson is closing on Dale Murphy’s Braves franchise mark with a streak that could end as soon as July 10. The same weekend also delivered sharp turns for the Blue Jays, a big Tampa B

Pete Alonso knew exactly what the number meant when he stepped back into the batter’s box for his 500th consecutive game — and he also knew the stakes of showing off that kind of durability in the wrong building.

This week, Alonso played his 500th straight game. Now he is at 501 after Sunday’s game. The milestone carries extra weight because it came after a change of cities: Alonso joined the Baltimore Orioles this past offseason. and Baltimore’s franchise record for consecutive games is also the Baltimore-linked standard in baseball history.

That big league record belongs to Cal Ripken Jr., whose streak ran to 2,632 consecutive games. Lou Gehrig held the mark at 2,130 until Ripken broke it in 1995. For Orioles fans. Alonso’s current run is just one chapter in a longer lineage: the gap between Ripken and Alonso is still large enough that you can fit Gehrig’s entire streak inside it. Before leaving the New York Mets for Baltimore, Alonso set the Mets franchise record of 416 consecutive games.

The only active streak longer than Alonso’s belongs to Matt Olson. Olson has played 864 straight games, with the last 730 coming for the Atlanta Braves. Atlanta’s franchise consecutive-games record is held by two-time MVP Dale Murphy at 740. Olson is on track to break that mark on July 10. when the Braves are set to play on the road against St. Louis.

Olson would tie Murphy’s mark on July 9 — exactly 40 years to the day from when Murphy’s streak ended.

Baseball’s streak math is one thing. But the weekend’s games showed how quickly momentum can swing — and how unforgiving it can be.

For teams chasing a postseason spot in the American League wild-card race, the Toronto Blue Jays are still close enough to stay in the conversation even after a brutal skid. The Blue Jays have lost six straight games and remain only 2 1/2 games out of a postseason spot.

Texas, the defending AL champions, swept four straight from Toronto. The Blue Jays dropped the finale Sunday after letting Jarred Kelenic score the winning run all the way from second on a wild pitch in the ninth. Toronto’s struggles have also shown up at the plate. After finishing third in the majors in OPS last year, the Blue Jays are in the bottom 10 this season. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has only four home runs, and George Springer is batting .220.

Tampa Bay’s week had a different flavor. Junior Caminero hit three home runs and drove in six runs as the Rays routed Kansas City 13-2 on Thursday. Tampa Bay even carried a combined no-hitter into the ninth inning of that game before Carter Jansen homered off Craig Kimbrel with one out.

The Rays’ power has been a defining theme this season: Tampa Bay has hit just 74 home runs, with only Miami and Boston hitting fewer. Caminero has 22 of those.

And in Philadelphia, the story came down to timing and nerve. Three comeback games stood out — and two of them were powered by performances that turned late leads into win margins.

On Tuesday, the Nationals led 5-0 in the fifth and 8-6 in the ninth before allowing eight runs in the final inning for a 14-9 loss. Those eight runs came after the first two Philadelphia batters of the ninth struck out.

On Wednesday, Philadelphia found itself again down to their last out with nobody on. The rally began with Kyle Schwarber’s walk and Derek Hill’s two-run homer. The Phillies won 5-4.

On Thursday, down 5-0, the Phillies scored two runs in the sixth, three in the seventh, and five in the ninth for a 10-5 victory.

Washington’s peak win probabilities were 98.8% on Tuesday, 96.3% on Wednesday, and 96.5% on Thursday, according to Baseball Savant. The Nationals have also already shown they can bleed runs when it matters: earlier this month. they blew an eight-run lead at San Francisco. They have since lost four games after leading by at least five — the most such defeats in baseball.

Streaks, skids, and late collapses all matter for what comes next. But for the people watching — players grinding through numbers, fans feeling the swing of a ninth inning — the weekend made one thing clear: in baseball, what you’ve done all season can vanish in a single breath.

There was still trivia to land on, too. The shortest existing consecutive-games franchise record belongs to Washington, according to Sportradar. That franchise mark is held by the elder Vladimir Guerrero, who played in 276 straight games when the team was still in Montreal.

And beyond the Orioles and Yankees, the longest team record for consecutive games belongs to the Chicago Cubs at 1,117, held by Billy Williams. Not far behind are the Los Angeles Dodgers at 1,107 by Steve Garvey and Cleveland at 1,103 by Joe Sewell.

MLB Pete Alonso Baltimore Orioles Matt Olson Atlanta Braves Dale Murphy Cal Ripken Jr. Lou Gehrig Phillies Nationals Blue Jays Toronto Junior Caminero Tampa Bay Rays Carter Jansen Craig Kimbrel