We're Going Streaking! MLBAM Offers $1M Prize For Fantasy Game

MLBAM Relaunches "Beat The Streak" Fantasy Game With $1M Top Prize

MLBAM today will relaunch its “Beat The Streak” fantasy game with a top prize increased from $100,000 last year to $1M this year. MLBAM also signed a one-year presenting sponsorship deal with Mitchum for the game, designed to appeal particularly to fans who find commissioner-style fantasy baseball games too difficult and time-consuming. Creating more prominent short-form fantasy baseball games has been a company priority for years, and the seven-year-old “Beat The Streak” game involves selecting a player each day to garner a hit in real-life play with a goal of breaking Joe DiMaggio’s hallowed hitting streak of 56 games. No one in the free game has yet to top DiMaggio, as the top “Beat The Streak” mark to date is 49 games. But with the dramatically increased prize, MLBAM this year purchased its first insurance policy for “Beat The Streak” to pay the $1M should it be won. “We think this is the year when it moves to another level,” said MLBAM President & CEO Bob Bowman (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal). Bowman added, "Everyone thinks they can pick the right batter, the right match-up and away they go, but someday along the streak it just kind of goes caflooey and it doesn’t work. ... We’re hoping against hope that someone wins it this year and that’s why we upped the stakes." CNBC’s Darren Rovell said Pregame.com computed the odds of picking a 57-game hitting streak at 1 in 6.2 million, compared to filling out a perfect NCAA Tournament bracket sheet, which is at 1 in 9.2 quintillion ("The Call," CNBC, 3/18).