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Following Wednesday night’s first-inning RBI double, Nolan Arenado of the Colorado Rockies extended his hit streak to 27 games, tying a franchise record, per The Denver Post. Michael Cuddyer—the defending National League batting champion—recently set the mark with his own 27-game streak last season.

In Wednesday’s 9-2 victory over the Texas Rangers, the Rockies third baseman recorded his first three-hit game of the streak, which started back on April 9. Over this span, 11 of Arenado‘s games have been of the multi-hit variety, and he’s posted a .364 batting average. In comparison, Cuddyer hit .372 over his streak, and also had exactly 11 multi-hit games.

In terms of extra-base hits during the streak, Arenado outnumbers Cuddyer 15-11. Arenado also has 20 RBI compared to Cuddyer’s 19, while Cuddyer is tops in the OPS department, .975 to .967. 

On the all-time list, Arenado still has a long ways to go in terms of the most consecutive games with a hit. Pete Rose tops the list with 44 straight games in the modern era (defined here as starting in 1969), while Joe DiMaggio is the all-time leader with a streak of 56, recorded back in 1941. 

Arenado will attempt to make it 28 games in a row with a hit Thursday night against the Rangers. He’s never faced projected starter Matt Harrison in his career.

All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference unless otherwise specified.  

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Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz heads into Tuesday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds with a chance to take sole possession of fourth place on Boston’s all-time home run list.

Per ESPN Stats & Info, Ortiz hit his 379th home run in a Red Sox uniform Saturday against the Oakland Athletics, pulling himself into a tie for fourth place with retired right fielder Dwight Evans.

Evans and Ortiz couldn’t be more different, as Big Papi was a late-blooming slugger who could barely play first base, even in his younger years.

Evans, on the other hand, was successful from a young age and will ultimately be remembered for his work with the glove just as much as his work in the batter’s box. The man affectionately known as “Dewey” to Red Sox fans retired with six Gold Glove Awards and just two Silver Slugger Awards.

Ortiz? Six Silver Sluggers—all as a designated hitter—and nary a Gold Glove.

Shortly after passing Evans on the franchise homer list, Ortiz will take aim at Jim Rice, who hit each of his 382 career home runs in a Red Sox uniform. Much like Ortiz, Rice was renowned for his slugging prowess, but he didn’t have a whole lot else to offer.

Once Ortiz inevitably hits four more homers to pass Rice for third place, his ascent up the leaderboard may come to an end. Carl Yastrzemski sits in second place with 452 dingers, while Ted Williams’ 521 are good for the all-time Red Sox lead.

Ortiz seems to have plenty of gas left in the tank, but he is 38 years old, and he needs 74 more home runs to pass Yastrzemski for that No. 2 spot.

Signed through 2015, Ortiz would likely need to play until at least 2016 to have a shot at surpassing Yastrzemski, as the slugging DH hasn’t topped 30 homers in a season since hitting 32 in 2010.

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Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton is up to his usual tricks this season, with eight home runs and 32 RBI through 28 games heading into Friday’s contest against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Stanton knocked in 31 of those 32 runs before the end of April, setting a franchise record for most RBI before the beginning of May, per ESPN Stats & Info.

The previous record holder, Moises Alou, had 30 RBI for the Marlins before May 1 in 1997 while also hitting eight home runs. He finished the month with a white-hot .360/.430/.744 slash line, but Alou finished the year at a more modest .292/.373/.493, with 23 home runs and 115 RBI.

Stanton held an excellent but not overwhelming .269/.342/.565 line at the end of April, as his 35 strikeouts through 120 plate appearances (29.2 percent K rate) made it hard to post a top-notch batting average or on-base percentage. 

Where Stanton excelled was crushing baseballs and knocking in runs. His eight home runs are tied with Justin Upton’s for second place in the National League, and his 32 RBI are well ahead of Adrian Gonzalez’s 25 for first.

What’s more, Stanton has a knack for making his home runs count. He’s hit three of the 10 longest dingers in all of baseball this season, per ESPN’s Home Run Tracker. His 484-foot blast on April 4 reigns as the furthest hit homer in the majors this season, two feet ahead of a 482-foot David Ortiz long ball.

The 24-year-old outfielder already has a small piece of Marlins history, but he’s likely aiming higher than an April record. The team single-season home run (42) and RBI (121) records could be in reach, with the former set by Gary Sheffield in 1996 and the latter by Preston Wilson in 2000.

Be it this year, next, or some time in the distant future, Stanton should eventually break at least one of the two records, if not both.

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According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Los Angeles Dodgers recently earned regular-season win No. 10,000 in franchise history, reaching the milestone mark with Wednesday night’s 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

The Dodgers’ official website reports that they are the fourth team in MLB history to accomplish the feat, joining the San Francisco (formerly New York) Giants, Chicago Cubs and Atlanta (formerly Boston and Milwaukee) Braves.

Heading into Friday’s slate of games, the Giants (10,709) are tops on the all-time wins list, followed by the Cubs (10,447), Braves (10,421) and Dodgers (10,002).

Adrian Gonzalez and Co. padded the franchise win total one day after reaching 10,000, taking both games of a doubleheader from the Minnesota Twins to complete a three-game series sweep.

It would take decades of excellent play to catch any of the teams above them, as the Dodgers still sit 419 wins short of the Braves and 445 behind the Cubs.

While the Dodgers may be stuck in fourth place for a while, the Braves perhaps have an opportunity to overtake the Cubs for second place on the all-time list.

Sitting at 17-10 in first place in the National League East, the Braves are already 7.5 games better than the 9-17 Cubs through the first five weeks of the season. Atlanta still needs to make up 26 games on the Cubbies, but Chicago has looked bad enough that it may even happen this year.

Of course, regardless of which team finishes the season in second place on all-time wins list, the Braves (1957 and 1995) and Cubs (1907 and 1908) have only won a combined four World Series since the competition began in 1903.

The Giants boast seven World Series titles—five in New York and two in San Francisco—while the Dodgers have won six, with five of those coming in L.A. and just one (1955) in Brooklyn.

With all due respect to the division-leading teams in Atlanta and San Francisco, it’s the stacked Dodgers who are likeliest to add another World Series victory in 2014.

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Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu burst onto the scene with a historic first month in the majors, setting MLB rookie records for most home runs (10) and RBI (32) before the beginning of May, per ESPN Chicago.

Abreu’s achievements didn’t end at the rookie level, as he also set a White Sox record for most RBI in March/April, per ESPN Chicago. Abreu bested the record of current teammate Paul Konerko, who knocked in 28 runs before May 1 in 2002.

Konerko, the heir to Frank Thomas as face of the franchise, is now limited to a part-time role in what will likely be his final season. The timing for a retirement couldn’t be better, as the 38-year-old Konerko can pass the franchise crown to the Sox’s prolific Cuban rookie.   

Abreu, 27, is on pace for 56 home runs and 179 RBI, with both of those numbers representing would-be single-season White Sox records. Albert Belle, who isn’t exactly held in the same regard as Konerko and Thomas, set both franchise records in 1998, when he slugged 49 home runs and drove in 152 runs.

Belle is well represented in the franchise record books, but not so fondly remembered in the minds of White Sox fans, or fans of other teams for that matter. Unlike the more mild-mannered Konerko and Abreu, Belle was a notorious hot-head who rubbed many fans and teammates the wrong way.

Abreu seems to be cut from the same cloth as Belle in terms of raw power, but that’s about where the comparisons should end. Not only do the two seem drastically different in terms of personality, but even a player as talented as Abreu probably can’t match Belle’s team-record 49 homers and 152 RBI as a rookie.

Per the Baseball Almanac, only one rookie has ever hit more than 38 home runs in a season, and that was Mark McGwire, who slugged an incredible 49 for the Oakland Athletics in 1987.

Perhaps 49 is asking too much of Abreu, but, with good health, he should make a run at 40 homers, which would place him second on the all-time rookie list.

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Finally healthy and swinging a hot bat, New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira is closing in on 350 career home runs heading into a weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays.

The 6’3″ slugger hit No. 343 in Sunday’s win over the Los Angeles Angels, with a go-ahead blast in the seventh inning propelling him past Ron Santo on the all-time home run list, placing Teixeira in sole possession of the No. 92 spot, per ESPN Stats & Info.

The homer proved to be a milestone in and of itself, as it was his 80th home run at the new Yankee Stadium, the most by any hitter since the ballpark opened in 2009. Second baseman Robinson Cano, now of the Seattle Mariners, previously held the record with 79 home runs at The House that Jeter Built.

Teixeira added another long ball in the second inning of Tuesday’s game against the Mariners, giving him three on the season and 344 for his career. As he continues to rise up the all-time ranks, the switch-hitter is just six home runs shy of becoming the 91st member of the 350-homer club. 

The 34-year-old Teixeira remains under contract with the Yankees through the 2016 season, which should give him plenty of opportunities to pad his totals in the new, hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium. For his career, Teixeira has averaged 37 home runs per 162 games, and he was known for his durability until 2012.

500 homers might be pushing it, but Big Tex should at least make a run at 450, assuming he can put the injury woes of the past two years behind him.

All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference unless otherwise noted.

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Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu hit his eighth and ninth home runs of the season in Friday’s 9-6 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, setting an all-time rookie record for most homers before the beginning of May, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Not only did the Cuban rookie make history, but his second long ball of the game was a walk-off grand slam in the ninth inning that turned a 6-5 deficit into a 9-6 victory. Tampa Bay closer Grant Balfour, a notorious hothead, was the unfortunate victim of Abreu’s heroics. Actually, the word “unfortunate” is questionable in this scenario, as Balfour might not be able to throw a worse pitch if he tried.

The first homer was a bit more ordinary, as Abreu hit a solo blast off Chris Archer in the bottom of the third after knocking home a run with a single in the first. For the day, he went 3-for-5 with two homers, two runs and six RBI.

Now sitting at nine home runs through 24 games, Abreu is tied with Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols for the major league lead heading into Saturday’s games. Coincidentally, Pujols—along with Kent Hrbek and Carlos Delgado—was the previous record holder for rookie home runs (eight) before the beginning of May, per George Castle of The Times of Northwest Indiana.

If Abreu has his sights on the season-long rookie home run record, he’s looking at a nearly impossible task. Mark McGwire smashed an incredible 49 homers for the Oakland Athletics in 1987, and no other rookie has ever hit more than 38, per the Baseball Almanac.

Of course, as a 243-pound 27-year-old with significant experience playing professionally in Cuba, Abreu is far from your typical rookie.

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Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera recorded career hit No. 2,000 in predictably stylish fashion Friday, hitting a two-run homer to reach the milestone.

Cabrera entered Friday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles with 1,996 hits, just four short of 2,000.

He singled in the first, fourth and fifth innings, with a second-inning flyout mixed in just to prove his mortality. Then, with a runner on first base and Baltimore’s Ryan Webb on the mound in the eighth inning, Cabrera crushed a two-run homer into the left field stands for hit No. 2,000.

The 2,000-hit club isn’t particularly exclusive, as Miggy became the 277th member.

However, the prolific 30-year-old slugger set himself apart from that pack by becoming the seventh-youngest player in MLB history to reach the milestone, per MLive.com.

Per CBS Detroit, only eight other players in major league history have recorded hit No. 2,000 before the age of 31, and seven of those eight are in the Hall Of Fame, while the other—suspended Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez—would one day be a lock for the Hall, if not for his admitted PED use.

Alongside Rodriguez and Cabrera in the exclusive club are Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Mel Ott, Joe Medwick, Jimmie Foxx, Hank Aaron and Robin Yount.

That’s an impressive list of baseball legends, and Miguel Cabrera may one day be the biggest name on it.

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Per MLB.com‘s Alden Gonzalez, Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout signed a six-year, $144.5 million contract Friday, marking the second-largest deal in MLB history for a player with less than three years of service time, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

That Trout’s contract is only the second-largest such deal may come as a surprise, but his six-year pact easily outweighs Buster Posey’s nine-year, $167 million contract in terms of average annual value.

Trout’s new contract—which runs from 2015-20—pays him approximately $24.08 million per season, good for the ninth-largest average salary in all of baseball, per ESPN.com. Posey’s contract averages a mere $18.56 million, falling $5.52 million short of Trout’s.

Furthermore, Trout can become a free agent when he’s 29 years old, while Posey won’t be able to do the same until he’s either 34 or 35, depending on whether the Giants ultimately exercise the catcher’s team option for 2022.

Trout’s contract is a nice bargain for the Angels, but we can’t forget that the team bought out three of his arbitration years and only three years of free agency.

Comparing Trout’s contract to the 10-year, $292 million deal recently signed by Miguel Cabrera is apples-to-oranges, and there’s little doubt that Trout would annihilate Cabrera’s contract if the 22-year-old was allowed to hit free agency today.

His deal may not be as impressive as Cabrera’s on paper, but it still proves that Trout is the most valued commodity in the game.

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With Opening Day fast approaching, Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera is in line to reach 2,000 career hits before the weather in Detroit gets warm.

The two-time reigning American League MVP has 1,995 hits through 11 seasons, leaving him just five shy of a milestone that 276 other players have accomplished.

Given his all-world capabilities at the plate, Cabrera figures to reach 2,000 during the season’s first week, and he could even get there by the second or third game. Come to think of it, since it’s Cabrera we’re talking about, would anybody really be surprised if he piles up all five hits in his first game?

Kansas City Royals pitcher James Shields—who will face the Tigers on Opening Day—might have something to say about that, but the right-hander probably wouldn’t say it to Miggy’s face.

Shields has been one of the better pitchers in the American League for three years now, yet Cabrera sees a punching bag where the rest of us see an imposing workhorse. His 40 career at-bats against Shields have yielded 17 hits (.425 batting average), including two home runs and six doubles, not to mention four walks and just six strikeouts.

Unquestionably the game’s preeminent hitter, Cabrera will cruise past 2,000 hits without a second thought, his eyes likely on a World Series and bigger milestones.

As evidenced by its 276 members and counting, the 2,000-hit club isn’t nearly as exclusive as the 3,000-hit club, which is comprised of just 28 players.

No 30-year-old can be considered a shoo-in to pile up 1,005 more hits in his career, but Cabrera is awfully close. With nine consecutive 180-hit seasons to his name, Miggy’s ETA for 3,000 is 2019 or 2020.

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