After one of baseball's best run producers, Eric Hosmer, helped extend his run Saturday night, Beat the Streak leader "Terry_Sims" went with one of the game's best overall players for the Sunday matinee.
Turns out the safe pick was a wise pick, too.
Terry Sims, 63, went with Mike Trout as his Sunday selection, and the Angels star came through with a second-inning single as part of a 1-for-4 day in Los Angeles' 2-0 victory against the A's. Trout, a career .279 hitter against Oakland, extended Sims' BTS-leading stretch to 43 games, tied for the third-longest run by a BTS player this year, and 75 percent of the way to winning the $5.6 million grand prize.
"As far as being the leader, it really hasn't sunk in," Sims said in an email to MLB.com. "At this point, reasoning and logic are out the window.
"I'm like the proverbial duck, pretty calm on the surface but paddling [hard] under the water, just trying to keep the streak alive."
Sims now needs just 14 more successful picks to pass Joe DiMaggio's record 56-game streak from 1941. In an email to MLB.com, the BTS leader said that in four or five years of playing Beat the Streak, this is his first time getting further than 20 games.
In 2016, it's easier than ever for BTS players to reach DiMaggio's legendary mark. Players can get a leg up with the "Double Down" feature, for example, which allows them the ability to increase their streak by two games in one day by picking a second player they feel will get a hit. If either one of the player's picks go hitless, however, the player's streak ends and returns to zero.
Additionally, BTS players have a wealth of research filters at their disposal, including batting-order position and cold opposing pitchers. Best of all, they can take days off between selections if they don't find ideal matchups -- just as long as they exceed 56 games by season's end.
Sims is attempting to become the first player in the 15-year history of Beat the Streak to win the grand prize. If no one claims the grand prize this season, the player with the longest streak gets a $10,000 consolation prize. Additionally, two million other prizes were awarded for streaks as small as five games last year.
Should Sims become the first player to pass DiMaggio, he said he has "no plans" for the money, other than leaving his job at a golf course and taking his wife and friends on a trip to play golf around the world.
"My friends are all watching who my picks are," Sims said.
If Sims or someone else finally collects the grand prize this year, it would be particularly fitting. After all, it's the 75-year anniversary of DiMaggio's remarkable streak, which is being commemorated with daily recaps on MLB.com and @TheStreak on Twitter.