Meet MLB’s millennial Iron Man: Braves’ Matt Olson is modern marvel in baseball

WASHINGTON – Unlike some of his Major League Baseball peers, Matt Olson does not drain his blood, sip mountain spring water from a green glass bottle to avoid microplastics, nor measure every carbohydrate before sating his hunger. “No, I’m not the guy,” he tells USA TODAY Sports, “who’s got a chef at home. ” Yet somehow, Olson has outlasted them all.

In this era of load management and general soreness the Atlanta Braves first baseman has not missed a game in nearly five years, stringing together a feat of longevity that can stand up to almost any era. After Atlanta’s 7-3 loss at Nationals Park on April 21, Olson has played in 806 consecutive games, second-longest this century and good health willing, soon stretching into the top 10 all-time. Barring calamity or bad weather, Olson, on May 10 at Dodger Stadium, will dislodge Gus Suhr from 10 th place all time with his 823 rd consecutive game played.

Eight days later, Eddie Yost would cede ninth place when Olson posts up at Miami. And on Aug. 2, at home against Washington, the great Stan Musial would step aside for Olson’s 896 th straight game and eighth place all time.

No, Cal Ripken Jr. won’t be losing sleep anytime soon: Olson would have to play every day well into the 2037 season to take down the Iron Man’s 2,632-game record. Yet Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s mark of 2,130 way back in 1995, long before planned days off and nouveau tweaks like oblique tears sent sluggers out of the lineup and onto the injured list.