Records are always meant to be broken; however, there are always special exceptions. There are always going to be special feats within sports that will never be beat. With that being said, I decided to take a look at some MLB records, both all-time and single season. With that being said, I’ve identified four records that I think will never be broken and two records that I would like to believe will never be broke, but, I believe have a small possibility of being beat.
Let’s start with the records that I do not think will ever be broken:
Record: Nolan Ryan’s 5714 career strikeouts.
Why it won’t be broken: The closest active players are CC Sabathia and Justin Verlander. As of June 25th, 2019 Sabathia has recorded 3052 strikeouts and Verlander 2848. This puts them 2662 and 2866 strikeouts behind Nolan Ryan respectively. Each of them has a significant number of innings pitched less than Ryan as well. With that being said Sabathia is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2019 season and has already had an eighteen year career. I don’t think it is likely that Sabathia signs another contract as a starter in the MLB, thus lessening his chances of catching Ryan. When it comes to Verlander, he is currently under contract until the 2021 season, but will be 38 years old at the expiration of his contract. He might get another 3-5 year deal, but by my math he would need to average 250+ strikeouts a season for 11 more years to catch Ryan.
Record: Cy Young’s 511 career wins.
Why it won’t be broken: Players simply don’t play as long. We also see starters get a regular 5 day rest period, and we’re even starting to see some teams move to 6-man rotations. Let’s not forget the new phenomenon of using openers too. The closest active players are again CC Sabathia (251 wins) and Bartolo Colon (247 wins); both of which are likely nearing their ends of their careers and would still need to make 340+ more appearances to match Young. I’m getting to the point where I truly believe we won’t see another 300 win pitcher. This boils down to the idea of inning limits placed on pitchers by teams as well as the openers I mentioned earlier. The game is ever evolving when it comes to pitching, and we just don’t lean on the arms of pitchers like we did back when Young was playing.
Record: Rickie Henderson’s single season (130) and all-time (1406) stolen bases.
Why it won’t be broken: Let’s just look at the closest “active” player Jose Reye’s….he has a career total of 517 stolen bases which is nearly 900 fewer than Henderson’s career. In today’s game we focus so much on power numbers that we don’t see much of the small ball game. Let’s be honest, when we see a player steal 50 a season the likelihood of a player ever stealing 100 plus again is slim to none. In fact, the last player to steal 100+ in a season was Vince Coleman (109) of St. Louis back in 1987. Even further, the last 75+ stolen bases in a season was Jose Reyes (78) back in 2007 with the Mets. If a player were to average 50 stolen bases a season it would take them 28 full seasons to catch Rickie, and we already know, players just don’t play that long. For the icing on top, the Cleveland Indians stole 135 bases as a team; players just don’t run anymore.
Record: Cal Ripken’s 2632 consecutive games player.
Why it won’t be broken: The closest we’ve even come in modern baseball was Miguel Tejada, who managed to play in 1152 consecutive games between 6/2/200 thru 6/21/2007. Now, we need to remember Ripken’s 2632 games is just over 16 full seasons, Tejada’s streak was just over 7 full seasons so not even close to touching Cal. With mandatory rest days built into player’s schedules and the shorter career span of today’s athletes, this record will never be touched.
Now, a couple of records that have a slim possibility of being broken:
Record: Barry Bonds 73 home runs in a single season.
Why it’s possible it will be broken: Since the 2000 season we’ve seen a player hit 50+ home runs 15 times. Most recently was the 2017 season where we saw Giancarlo Stanton and rookie sensation Aaron Judge hit 59 and 52 home runs respectively. Judge could be one of these players to break the record, despite the fact that he hasn’t hit 50+ bombs for a second time, I believe there is the power in his bat to do so if he figures out how to cut down on his strikeout rate. Also, Vlad Guerrero Jr. could be one of the guys to do it as well. All we heard about during his time ascending to the big leagues was his power and how his swing was just like his dads. Vlad Sr. bombed 449 career home runs and I expect we might see more from his son. Another young player that might be able to break Bonds record is Yordan Alvarez, who recently got the call with Houston. In just 48 at-bats Alvarez has already parked the ball 7 times this season and had already hit 23 bombs across 56 games in Triple-A; so essentially in 68 games played in 2019 Alvarez has already smoked 30 home runs albeit across both minors and majors. Another player that sparks an interest is Bobby Bradley of the Cleveland Indians who in 4 of his first 5 minor league seasons parked 22 or more home runs. His power is raw, but continues to be refined and built upon each season.
Record: Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hit streak.
Why it’s possible it will be broken: Well, the likelihood low, but it’s possible. Since the 1941 season we’ve only seen one player manage a 40+ game streak which was Pete Rose back in 1978 when he hit safely in 44 straight games. But, it’s important to note that 28 players have hit safely in 30 or more since 1941 as well. Jimmy Rollins hit in 38 straight games over the end of the 2005 season into the beginning of the 2006 season. Rollins lost his streak in game 3 of the 2006 season; it is my belief that had he not had an entire offseason to throw his hitting mojo off it is possible he had had a much longer streak. If we are to see player break DiMaggio’s record I think it will happen over the course of one season either before the dog days of summer hit OR over the course of the final third of a season when a player finds their groove headed into the post season playoffs. A streak crossing over season likely won’t be the one to break the record.
So what do you think DSA Nation? Are there other records that you think are untouchable? Do you think I got it wrong here? Let me know!
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