For years, MLB.com has run a fun little fantasy game on its website that lets fans attempt to best Joe DiMaggio’s record 56-game hitting streak. Finally that game, Beat the Streak, gets a mobile access point.
The idea behind Beat the Streak is pretty simple. For each day of the season, fans pick any player in Major League Baseball who they think will get at least one hit in that day’s game. They don’t have to pick the same player each day, but until they either don’t make a pick for a day or the pick they’ve made goes hitless, their streak lives on. If their handpicked hitting streak reaches 57 games, they win $5.6 million. Even if they don’t reach 57 games, players can still win 20 grand for having the longest streak of the season.
For the most part, picking players in the app version of Beat the Streak works as well as on the website proper. In fact, it might actually be a little better. While the website has a section that lets you see who the top picks are for each day, it’s basically out of the way unless you go looking for it. The app, on the other hand, shows you these selections before you make your pick. It’s a helpful reminder that you don’t have to rack your brain over this game if you don’t want to.
That extra ease of use doesn’t carry over to the rest of the app, oddly. Features that would seem to be easy to carry over from the website, including things like the longest current streak of all Beat the Streak participants, and the all-time streak data, are absent.
These missing features won’t affect your ability to play along in a meaningful way, but they’re disappointing nonetheless. If you already play Beat the Streak, there’s no reason not to download the app, and if you’ve never played, the app is a fine reason to get started. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of improvements to be made to the version currently available.
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