In a season of streaks, 5 more we want to see

It’s only May 9, but what a season it already has been for streaks. Here is a (partial) sampling:

• Continuing a run he began in 2025, Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani ultimately reached base safely in 53 consecutive regular season games, through April 21. While 31 games shy of Ted Williams’ record, that tied Shawn Green’s Dodgers record since the franchise moved to Los Angeles.
• Dominant Padres closer Mason Miller didn’t allow a single run to score from Aug. 5, 2025 (his second appearance with San Diego) through April 25. His scoreless streak of 34 2/3 innings was the eighth longest by a reliever in the Expansion Era (since 1961).
• Journeyman infielder Ildemaro Vargas, enjoying a late-career breakout with the D-backs, hit safely in each of his first 24 games, through May 1, the second-longest streak to open a season since 1940. Going back to 2025, his overall hit streak reached 27 games.
• Athletics slugger Nick Kurtz, coming off a sensational rookie season, walked in 20 consecutive games from April 10-May 1, tying none other than Barry Bonds for the second-longest streak on record, just two behind Roy Cullenbine’s 22 in 1947.
• Braves first baseman Matt Olson has kept pushing MLB’s longest active games played streak forward. Earlier this season, he played his 799th straight, passing Nellie Fox for sole possession of 11th in history, and he has kept right on going since then.

All of that has put us in a streaky state of mind, so we couldn’t help but think about some other fun types of streaks we might want to see someone put together this year. Here are five more to watch for throughout the rest of 2026 -- and in some cases, beyond.

Consecutive strikeouts recorded
Record: 10 (Corbin Burnes, Aaron Nola, Tom Seaver)

Of all the streaks on this list, this feels like the most likely to have a record broken, if only because there is a chance for it to happen every day. Given the number of pitchers capable of racking up strikeouts in today’s game, there is no shortage of candidates. And it was only five years ago that two pitchers struck out 10 straight batters in a game, less than two months apart. That was Burnes for the Brewers and Nola for the Phillies, who matched a mark that had stood untouched since the Hall of Famer Seaver first set it in 1970.

Again: Any number of pitchers could do this in 2026, from established stars such as Ohtani and Paul Skenes to emerging ones such as Chase Burns and Cam Schlittler. But the first name that immediately comes to mind is another from the latter category: Jacob Misiorowski. The 24-year-old righty with just 21 big league starts under his belt is 6-foot-7 and comes at hitters with elite extension and absurd velocity.

Through Friday's start against the Yankees, Misiorowski has struck out 34.9% of opponents he’s faced in the Majors and easily leads qualifiers with a 39.5% K rate this year.

Consecutive games hitting a home run
Record: 8 (Ken Griffey Jr., Don Mattingly, Dale Long)

It certainly helps the prestige of this particular record that the two most recent players to match it (Mattingly in 1987, Griffey in 1993) are both iconic figures in baseball history. There’s also the fact that it’s been 33 years since Griffey’s feat, and nobody else has gotten to the magic number of eight.

Six players have come up one short in that time, most recently Mike Trout in 2022. The last six-game streak came from Rafael Devers in 2024. This season, two sluggers have topped out at five straight: White Sox rookie Munetaka Murakami (April 17-22) and the Tigers’ Spencer Torkelson (April 22-26).

There are plenty of sluggers who possess the consistent thump necessary to scale this mountain in 2026. You can never put anything past the likes of Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Kyle Schwarber and Yordan Alvarez, though of course there’s always the danger of teams opting not to pitch to them when they are red-hot. Olson has everything clicking this year, too. Or perhaps a young gun such as Junior Caminero, Nick Kurtz or James Wood can make a run at it -- after all, Griffey was just a 23-year-old phenom when he pulled it off.

Consecutive save chances converted
Record: 84 (Eric Gagne) | Active leader: 24 (Raisel Iglesias)

We already mentioned Miller above, and it’s difficult not to think of him again here, even though, entering Friday, his 13 straight saves was just the third-longest active streak behind Iglesias and Aroldis Chapman (22). Heck, Miller doesn’t even have anywhere close to 84 career saves, in total, at this point early in his third season as a closer.

But Gagne was arguably the most overwhelming reliever in history during this record streak, which spanned the entire 2003 season (55-for-55), plus chunks of ‘02 and ‘04. (Save stats are official back to 1969.) In 87 2/3 innings over that span, he allowed 43 hits, walked 18 and struck out 139. If that doesn’t conjure images of Miller mowing down helpless hitters with his 101 mph fastball and 88 mph slider, what does?

Of course, so much can go wrong in a save streak that is out of even a pitcher like Miller’s control. There’s a reason that since Gagne, nobody has even approached 84; Zack Britton’s 60 from 2015-17 is the closest.

Consecutive successful stolen base attempts
Record: 50 (Vince Coleman) | Active leader: Byron Buxton (32)

This record goes back to when caught-stealing records began being kept by both leagues in 1951, and in that time, nobody has ever been better than Coleman. The Cardinals speedster converted 50 consecutive steal attempts from Sept. 18, 1988, to July 26, 1989, and his 752 career steals rank sixth all-time -- first among players not in the Hall of Fame.

Even as nobody has caught Coleman, long steal streaks have become more common. While fast players ran much more recklessly back in the 1980s and 90s, teams today are much more cognizant of the cost of getting caught, and players pick their spots. Plus, new rules put in place in recent seasons (such as limits on pickoff attempts) have made life more difficult for defenses trying to put the clamps on the running game. (Just look at the career stolen base percentage leaderboard and notice all of the active players.)

Case in point: Buxton. No player on record has a higher SB% in 100-plus attempts than his 90.8. Buxton is currently riding only the second-best streak of his career, having stolen 33 straight between May 2017 and April 21, 2019. He is 48-for-50 since the start of 2022, including a perfect 24-for-24 last year.

That said, it’s actually the Phillies’ Trea Turner -- Buxton’s fellow freak of nature -- who owns the longest streak put together by an active player: 41 straight from Sept. 6, 2022, to April 24, 2024. Another player to watch? The D-backs’ Corbin Carroll, who has an 86.4% career success rate and is still just 25 years old.

Consecutive team wins
Record: 26 (1916 Giants)

Officially, the Giants hold the longest streak in Modern Era (since 1900) AL/NL history, but that run did include a tie, and oddly, that club only finished fourth in the National League standings. So we would settle for a team challenging Cleveland’s 2017 team, which was coming off a trip to the World Series and on its way to a 102-60 record when it reeled off 22 straight victories that August and September. That’s the longest streak of the past 110 years and tied with the 1935 Cubs for the longest AL/NL streak that didn’t include a tie. Since Cleveland’s run, the closest anyone has come was a 17-gamer by the 2021 Cardinals.

A long team win streak is incredible drama, which builds on a daily basis as the number goes higher and higher. And unlike with, say, a hitting streak, which only offers maybe four chances per game to extend it, the pressure is always on for a team streak.

Early this season, the Cubs look like the streakiest squad (in a good way). They won an MLB season-best 10 straight from April 14-24 and, after losing three in a row, put together another 10-game winning streak through Friday. The Yankees (who had an eight-game streak in April) and Dodgers will always be considered top candidates for this type of achievement. But an even more compelling storyline might be a team off to a disappointing start -- and there are plenty to choose from -- using a lengthy streak to reverse their fortunes. Those 2021 Cardinals did it; how about someone like the 2026 Blue Jays, Red Sox, Mets or Phillies, among others?