Matt Olson of the Atlanta Braves on the prestigious list of stars of the 2000s

On Wednesday night, when the Atlanta Braves beat the Boston Red Sox, the Braves’ Matt Olson played in his 492nd consecutive game.

The 30-year-old owns the league’s longest active consecutive game streak and has not sat since the 2021 season. Olson played in all 60 games in the 2020 COVID season, 156 during the 2021 season, and then all games since, meaning he’s only missed six games over the past four seasons.

Now look, 492 games is a far cry from Cal Ripken’s streak of 2,632 consecutive games, but for the current game, it’s very impressive.

In fact, in the 2000s, only a handful of players played more games in a row than Olson currently has.

Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

Matt Olson played 492 consecutive games, through 05/02/21

only longer sequences since 2000:

2000-07 Miguel Tejada: 1,152
2018-22 Whit Merrifield: 553
Prince outfield player 2010-2014: 547
2000-03 Alex Rodriguez: 546
2003-06 Hideki Matsui: 518
2004-07 Marc Teixeira: 507

h/t @EliasSports

There are several reasons why this is so impressive for Olson: First, it requires good health. To play that many games, you need to be in good health. Sure, it takes a bit of luck, but it also takes dedication in your preparation and care of your body. Plus, it’s impressive considering that in today’s game, teams focus solely on platoon advantages and load management for guys, and Olson was able to resist that in Oakland and now in Atlanta.

Last year’s Major League leader with 54 homers, Olson got off to a slow start this year, hitting just .200 with three homers and 16 RBIs.

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