Two Beat the Streak participants are up above the 40-game plateau as they chase Joe DiMaggio's famed 56-game hitting streak from 1941.
BTS leaders "jbtortorella" and "willmccormack14" are tied at the top with a streak of 42, and both extended their winning ways with correct picks Sunday. Each of them is now just 15 games away from the magic number 57, one more than DiMaggio's streak, and the $5.6 million prize. In the past 15 seasons, no Beat the Streak participant has been able to best the Yankee Clipper.
On Sunday, "jbtortorella" used the "Double Down" option to pick Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox and Manny Machado of the Orioles. Each of them delivered, as Pedroia went 2-for-6 with two RBIs, a double and a run scored in Toronto, and Machado went 1-for-5 in Cleveland.
Meanwhile, "willmccormack14" went with Buster Posey for Sunday after succeeding with Giants teammate Matt Duffy on Saturday. Posey responded by going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a double at Coors Field. The two leaders are now 74 percent of the way toward passing DiMaggio's hallowed streak.
If nobody wins the grand prize this season, the player with the longest streak still gets a $10,000 consolation prize, and 2 million other prizes also were given out last year for streaks as small as five. But winning BTS is also easier than ever now, thanks to features such as the "Double Down" and the "Mulligan." Players also 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.
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.