Nothing too exciting on the baseball front this weekend. Miguel Tejada’s streak came to an end as he was placed on the disabled list. One has to feel for Tejada because now he’s just another big name on a losing team. Before that fastball that fractured his wrist, he probably  looked forward to playing everyday…literally and figuratively.  Now that the streak is over, what does he have to look forward to?

I think his streak is slightly more interesting than Cal Ripkin Jr.’s streak. The main reason for that is because Tejada switched teams during the streak and that still did not deter him from playing everyday. Also,  Tejada really must have thought he could have reversed the Orioles’ misfortunes. Leaving a perreniel winner in Oakland to go to an unproven team in Baltimore must have been a hard decision even with the 6-year, $72 million contract that the Orioles offered.

So who is the next Ironman? Will it be a player from the current crop of Major Leaguers? Possibly. But it will take a very long time. Also, there are more obstacles today than in the past that make breaking Ripkin’s record almost impossible. But we’re talking about sports so “it ain’t over till the fat lady sings”.

The obstacles are collective bargaining disputes ( which make strikes more probable), budget constraints and injuries are just some of the more obvious ones. I think a respectable streak would be accomplished by a versatile player like a utility guy but in terms of offense and defense, with the AL adding another dimension via the DH. By that definition it would probably be Grady Sizemore, Juan Pierre and Jeff Francoeur. Their streaks are 269, 345, and about 300 respectively (no official check of Francoeur’s yet).

I think if anyone does it from this group it’ll be Grady Sizemore. He has the AL advantage of being able to DH or lead-off and then come out of the game. All three are interesting players.