Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts went 0-for-3 with two walks Friday night vs. the Blue Jays, bringing an end to his personal 26-game hitting streak and the 40-plus-game runs of three Beat the Streak participants
"Club 40" still has two active members, however, as BTS participant "chuckbinsc" reached it with a successful pick of Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia. Meanwhile, "peterose4477" is still at 40 straight correct picks after opting not to make a selection Friday.
Both streakers are roughly 70 percent of the way to the target of 57 consecutive correct picks --one more than Joe DiMaggio's famed hitting streak in 1941 -- and therefore the $5.6 million grand prize.
"chuckbinsc" has successfully used Pedroia more than any other player during the 40-game streak, picking Boston's keystone man seven times.
After starting 0-for-4 Friday night, Pedroia singled with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to bring Bogaerts to the plate as the tying run in a 5-2 game. But Bogaerts struck out, ending the contest and his hitting streak.
No Major Leaguer has come close to topping DiMaggio in the 75 seasons since Joltin' Joe set the all-time record by notching at least one hit in 56 straight games.
Similarly, of the millions who have tried to tally a 57-game "hitting streak" in BTS, none has persisted long enough to win the grand prize, now a whopping $5.6 million.
If no BTS participant wins the grand prize this season, the player with the longest streak still gets a $10,000 consolation prize. Two million other prizes also were given out last year, for streaks as small as five.
But winning BTS is also easier than ever now, as fans can take advantage of amenities that are not available to real MLB players in pursuit of Joe D.'s magical 56-game run.
For instance, on the road to $5.6 million, fans can pick two hitters per date ("Double Down") and get do-overs on runs that are between 10 and 15 picks long ("Mulligan"). Plus, BTS players can take as many days off as they want during a streak if the matchups aren't attractive, as long as they reach 57 by season's end.
Of course, even with those fan-friendly features, the coming weeks could be challenging for "peterose4477" and "chuckbinsc" -- assuming their runs remain alive.
Having a BTS player topple the marvelous mark of 56 would be particularly fitting this season -- the 75th anniversary of DiMaggio's hitting streak, which began on May 15, 1941, and is being honored with daily recaps on MLB.com and @TheStreak on Twitter.