Jakob Rosen / Unsplash740 Games and Nobody Noticed
Matt Olson just tied Dale Murphy's franchise consecutive games record. Your timeline is arguing about the rotation.
Matt Olson played his 740th consecutive game as a Brave on Thursday. Tied Dale Murphy. Forty years to the day Murphy's streak ended.
He hit a 404-foot home run in the first inning to celebrate.
And I guarantee your timeline didn't mention it once.
You know what your timeline IS talking about? The rotation. Elder lasted four innings and gave up three home runs. Strider went to the 60-day IL. Waldrep's got an 8.44 ERA. Your timeline has opinions about all of this.
Meanwhile, Olson just showed up for the 740th time in a row.
I'm 78% sure he's the most underappreciated player in baseball right now. Not the most underrated — people know he's good. Twenty-five home runs, .888 OPS, first place in the NL East. The stats are fine. But appreciation isn't about stats. It's about recognition. And the thing Olson does better than almost anyone alive — 874 consecutive games, ninth in MLB HISTORY — gets zero attention because it doesn't fit in a highlight reel.
Durability is boring until it isn't. Until your ace is on the 60-day IL and your reclamation project can't get out of the fourth inning and your $212 million third baseman is hitting .207 with four strikeouts in a single afternoon. Then you look over at first base and the same guy is standing there. Same guy who was standing there yesterday. And the day before. And 738 days before that.
Dale Murphy played 740 straight and won two MVPs. Olson ties the record and it's a footnote in a game recap. That's wrong.
Bookmark this. When Olson passes Murphy tomorrow in St. Louis, remember who told you it mattered.
The Tilt
Olson showing up 740 straight times while the rotation can't show up for five innings is the most underappreciated contrast in baseball.
— Dex Ponce
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