One fan is approaching Beat the Streak immortality.
User csteele12 enters Friday with 48 straight successful picks in MLB.com's flagship fantasy game, one shy of the all-time leader and nine away from topping Joe DiMaggio's hallowed 56-game hitting streak.
The first eligible fan to top DiMaggio's legendary mark will receive $5.6 million -- something no one has been able to do in the 16-year history of Beat the Streak.
On Friday, csteele12's fate will ride on the bat of Astros second baseman José Altuve, who is third in the lineup against Rays left-hander Drew Smyly at Minute Maid Park. There's not much mystery behind the pick, as Altuve easily leads the Majors with a .361 batting average and 180 hits. He has been even better against southpaws, batting .385.
The rules of BTS are simple, even if the challenge is not: Correctly pick a batter or two each day to tally a hit in a game. Then do it again and again, and don't stop until 57 straight successful selections are made.
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User csteele12, who has politely declined to comment on several occasions and whose identity remains unknown, has made 48 successful picks since July 3 and is 84.2 percent of the way to surpassing DiMaggio.
That csteele12 is approaching the BTS record of 49 -- first set by Mike Karatzia in 2007 and matched this summer by Terry Sims -- and chasing DiMaggio's mark in 2016 is fitting. This season marks the 75th anniversary of DiMaggio's streak.
DiMaggio went 74-for-192 (.385) during the first 48 games of his streak in 1941. Csteele12's picks are hitting 80-for-202, a .396 batting average, through 48 games. The Yankee Clipper had three four-hit games, three three-hit games, 11 two-hit games and 31 one-hit games during that span, while csteele12's picks have totaled two four-hit games, five three-hit games, 16 two-hit games and 25 one-hit games.