We are 100 days into a thrilling and historic season

The number 100 confers upon its subject a certain grandeur. It signifies everything from longevity to perfection, describes extremes from temperature to speed, and is perhaps the most special of round integers.

In a sport with as great a fondness for numbers as baseball, 100 represents a major milestone in several categories -- 100 career home runs, 100 RBIs in a season, 100 team victories and many others.

So on this 100th day of the 2023 regular season, it’s a great time to look back on what has already been a thrilling and historic campaign around baseball.

Here’s a look at some notable stats, storylines and Statcast superlatives as we hit Day 100 of the season:

The stats

First to 100 hits: Luis Arraez, Marlins
While 100 is certainly a magic number, Arraez is chasing a magic number of a different sort -- 400, as in a .400 batting average. It’s something that hasn’t been done over a full season since Ted Williams hit .406 for the Red Sox 82 years ago.

During his historic pursuit, the Marlins’ second baseman became the first player to pick up his 100th hit this season, doing so against the Blue Jays as part of a five-hit game on June 19. It was his third five-hit game of the season and second in three days.

First pitcher to 100 strikeouts: Spencer Strider, Braves
No surprise here. Strider is leading the Majors with a 14.2 strikeouts-per-nine-innings ratio and eclipsed the 100-K mark on May 28 against the Phillies. He did that in just 61 innings, becoming the fastest pitcher in the Modern Era (since 1900) to reach the 100-strikeout mark in a season. After fanning 202 batters last year, he’s likely to easily surpass that figure for a new career high in his first season as a full-time starter -- he's already struck out 155.

Who will be first to 100 RBIs?
Right now, it appears to be a four-man race between the Rangers’ Adolis García (71 RBIs), the Braves’ Matt Olson (70), the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani (68) and the Red Sox’s Rafael Devers (68).

García set a career high with 101 RBIs last season, but he’s already 70% of the way there in 2023. Ohtani hit the 100-RBI mark once, with exactly 100 in his 2021 MVP campaign, and the way he’s hitting, a new career best in that category seems like a foregone conclusion.

Olson, meanwhile, is looking to drive in 100-plus runs for the third consecutive season, and Devers is also trying to reach that milestone for the third time.

Who will be first to 100 runs scored?
Ronald Acuña Jr. has a comfortable lead in this department, with 78 runs to pace the Majors. Given how many homers and steals he already has in 2023, that makes sense -- the Braves’ superstar outfielder could become the first player in AL/NL history to hit 40 or more homers while also stealing 50 or more bases in the same season. In fact, he’s on pace for well over 70 steals.

Which team will be first to 100 wins?
Early on this season, the Rays were way ahead of the pack and seemed destined to take this title, but the Braves have been surging and it appears Atlanta will give Tampa Bay a good run in the race to 100 wins. And don't forget about the Rangers -- Texas has a chance to break the 100-win mark for the first time in franchise history.

Who hits the 100-career-homer milestone?
Several players have eclipsed 100 career home runs this season, including Yordan Alvarez, Ozzie Albies, Byron Buxton, Austin Riley, Gleyber Torres, Travis d’Arnaud, Christian Walker, Kiké Hernández and Chris Taylor.

Players who are within striking distance include Fernando Tatis Jr. (97 career home runs), Yuli Gurriel (97), Ketel Marte (97), Anthony Santander (97), Ryan McMahon (94), Brandon Drury (93), Brandon Lowe (93), Rowdy Tellez (91), Kyle Tucker (86) and Bo Bichette (84).

Which pitchers reach the 100-career-win milestone?
So far in 2023, the Padres’ Yu Darvish and the Brewers’ Wade Miley have reached the 100-career-win mark. The Orioles’ Kyle Gibson (97 wins) and the Twins’ Sonny Gray (94) are within striking distance.

The storylines

Surprise teams galore
One-hundred days into the season, the D-backs, Reds and Rangers are all in first place in their respective divisions, and the Marlins and Orioles each have winning percentages above .573. None of those teams made the postseason in 2022.

On the flip side of the coin, the two clubs with baseball’s highest payrolls -- the Mets and Padres -- are both well below .500 and closer to last place in their divisions than first place. New York and San Diego were both in the postseason last fall, as were the Cardinals, who have the third-worst record in the NL.

Arraez's chase for .400
No AL/NL player has hit .400 or better since Red Sox legend Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941. In this era of harder-throwing pitchers -- and more of them to face -- could Arraez do the unthinkable and hit .400 in 2023? Even this late into the season, he still has a legitimate shot. Entering the 100th day of the 2023 campaign, the Marlins star second baseman is at .388.

Ohtani putting on an even greater Sho
Just when you thought Shohei Ohtani couldn't possibly be better than what he's already proven to be -- an elite hitter and simultaneously a dominating starting pitcher -- he's actually authoring a career year at the plate while still maintaining his excellence on the mound.

A hundred days into the season, Ohtani leads the Majors with 31 homers, five triples, a .650 slugging percentage, a 1.033 OPS and 217 total bases.

Acuña slugging and stealing his way toward history
Acuña could become the first player in AL/NL history to have a 40-plus homer/50-plus steal season. The Braves’ slugging outfielder is the premier power/speed threat in the game today, and not since Eric Davis in 1987 (37 homers and 50 steals in 129 games for the Reds) have we seen anything like this. We might even be talking about a 40/70 season if Acuña keeps up his current pace.

Carroll's Trout-like start
Despite injuring himself on a swing in Thursday's game, D-backs center fielder Corbin Carroll is the favorite to win the NL Rookie of the Year Award, and he's played so well so far that there have even been some MVP whispers. Through his first 100 career games, his numbers stack up well against those of none other than three-time AL MVP Mike Trout through his first 100 games.

Through 100 games, Carroll had a comparable average to Trout's (.293 to .302), more homers (19 to 15), the same number of RBIs (52) and a higher OPS (.937 to .858).

The Statcast superlatives

Since Statcast began tracking in 2015, we’ve had a tremendous tool to give us context for some of the greatest feats in the game. And oftentimes, the number associated with elite status among Statcast metrics is -- you guessed it -- 100.

Whether it’s 100 mph exit velocity off the bat for a hitter, a 100 mph fastball unleashed by a pitcher or an arm strength reading of more than 100 mph on a throw from the outfield, a century Statcast reading is always an eyebrow raiser.

Here’s a look at the best of the best in those categories so far in 2023:

Most batted balls of 100 mph exit velocity or greater:

1. Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves: 140
2. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays: 114
3-T. Shohei Ohtani, Angels: 99
3-T. Juan Soto, Padres: 99
3-T. Yandy Díaz, Rays: 99
6-T. Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals: 98
6-T. Bo Bichette, Blue Jays: 98

Hardest-hit batted ball: 118.6 mph home run by the Braves’ Matt Olson on April 11 vs. Reds

Most pitches thrown at 100 mph or greater, starters:

1. Hunter Greene, Reds: 97
2. Bobby Miller, Dodgers: 67
3. Mason Miller, Athletics: 27
4. Jacob deGrom, Rangers: 18
5. Shohei Ohtani, Angels: 14

Fastest pitch thrown by a starter: 102.5 mph by Mason Miller

Most pitches thrown at 100 mph or greater, relievers:

1. Jordan Hicks, Cardinals: 342
2. Jhoan Duran, Twins: 254
3. Félix Bautista, Orioles: 164
4. Aroldis Chapman, Royals/Rangers: 151
5. Camilo Doval, Giants: 135

Fastest pitch thrown by a reliever: 104.6 mph (twice) by Duran

Most outfield throws with Arm Strength of 100 mph or greater:

1. Nolan Jones, Rockies: 4
2-T. Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves: 2
2-T. Brenton Doyle, Rockies: 2
4. Nine players tied with one

Fastest throw from the outfield: 104.1 mph by Acuña on June 22 vs. Phillies

What will the next 100 days hold?

As we near the All-Star break, we can reflect on a first half of the 2023 season that kept us on the edges of our seats.

With Ohtani leaving us awestruck virtually every time he takes the field, Arraez with a real chance at .400, Acuña aiming for power-speed history, electric young rookies like Carroll and surprise teams making a run at the postseason, we have a lot to look forward to in the second half and in the playoffs.