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The Atlanta Braves’ Matt Olson continued his remarkable streak of consecutive games played, appearing in his 741st straight contest as the Braves narrowly defeated the New York Mets 4-3 at Citi Field on Thursday night.
With this appearance, Olson surpassed Atlanta legend Dale Murphy (740) to claim the fifth-longest streak of the Divisional Era and now ranks 13th on MLB’s all-time consecutive games list. He is on pace to pass Pete Rose (745) and reach the fourth-longest streak in MLB since 1969.
Olson has not missed a game since joining the Braves in 2022. At the time of his trade from the Oakland Athletics, his streak stood at 134 games. Since arriving in Atlanta, he has started 606 of 607 straight games, bringing his current streak to 741. Among active players, Olson leads in consecutive games played, followed by Pete Alonso with 375 and Elly De La Cruz with 178.
“That kind of puts it into perspective a little bit,” Olson said. “I feel like I'm just playing when I'm healthy. I'm sure there's a lot of luck involved. At some point, I'm gonna get hit by a pitch on the elbow or step on a base wrong or whatever it might be, just the little stuff that happens in sports. But yeah, it’s pretty cool to see the comparison.”
Olson’s place in baseball history is evident on the consecutive games streak list. Cal Ripken Jr. leads with 2,632 games, Lou Gehrig ranks second with 2,130, and in the past 50 years, only Ripken has surpassed a streak of 1,207 games. The three-time All-Star’s streak already ranks ahead of Steve Garvey (1,207), Miguel Tejada (1,152), and Pete Rose (745).
Braves manager Brian Snitker praised Olson, saying, “It’s amazing what he’s done. He just shows up to play every day.”
Since joining Atlanta, Olson has been among the National League’s top performers. He leads the league in extra-base hits (278) and total bases (1,142), ranks second in RBIs (411) and doubles (138), third in home runs (136), sixth in runs scored (359), and ninth in OPS (.853) among qualified NL players.
The two-time Gold Glove Award winner credited his durability to his upbringing and early mentors, including former Athletics teammate Marcus Semien, as well as observing the work ethic of teammates like Austin Riley and Dansby Swanson.
“It's like you owe it to the team, the fans, your teammates, and everybody,” Olson said. “They’re paying you this money to go out and play. If you're able to do it and you don't feel bad, or if you know it's something you can play through, you go out and do it. Nobody is 100 percent except for the first week of Spring Training. So you owe it to everybody to go out there and grind it out.”
Thursday’s win also featured key contributions from Ozzie Albies, who homered, doubled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, and added an RBI single. Bryce Elder (5-9) pitched seven innings, allowing three runs (two earned), while Raisel Iglesias secured his 17th save with a perfect ninth inning.
Michael Harris II tied the game in the eighth with an RBI double before scoring on Albies’ hit. Atlanta improved to 7-3 against the Mets this season, while the Mets have lost 13 of their last 15 games, narrowing their wild-card lead over the idle Cincinnati Reds to just a half-game.
