Win $1,000,000 Playing MLB.Com's Beat the Streak Contest

MLB.com and Burger King® have come together offering a free unique contest that could put more than 1,000,000 in your pocket! If you are a baseball fan and play fantasy baseball, you may have a bit of an advantage, but there are plenty of blogs and other advice out there that can help even the non-fan or rookie compete in the Beat the Streak Contest, the most commonly used would be the Beat the Streak Report.

The goal of the Beat the Streak Contest is to pick a player every day that you think will get at least one hit. If the player you picked gets one hit, your streak continues. If not, your streak resets to zero. The contest's winning streak numbers are established by current Major League Baseball records. Joe DiMaggio is the current streak record holder with 56 consecutive hits set in 1941, hence the "beat the streak" title and the grand prize of 1,000,000 being awarded to the first person to pick 57, beating DiMaggio's record.

Prizes

Grand Prize - 57 Game Hitting Streak

If you are the first person to successfully pick 57 straight players who get a hit in a MLB game (of course based on the official rules on the MLB.com website) will win the Hitting Streak Prize of 1,000,000.

45 Game Hitting Streak

Based on the current National League record of a 44 hit streak originally set by Willie Keeler in 1897 and tied by Pete Rose in 1978. If you can achieve a 45 game hitting streak, you will win a $100 gift certificate to the MLB.com Shop.

35 Game Hitting Streak

This prize is based on the current MLB Rookie hitting streak record currently held by Benito Santiago who hit in 34 consecutive games during his rookie year in 1987. This prize is a $50 gift certificate to MLB.com Shop.

30 Game Hitting Streak

If you successfully pick players that get hits for 30 consecutive games, you will win a 1-month subscription to MLB.TV. This prize doesn't seem to be based on any records. More of a consolation prize for reaching the 30 game plateau.

If no one achieves the 57 game streak during the contest period, ending on May 31, 2009, the 57 game hitting streak prize will go up by $10,000 each game day until somebody hits the magic number of 57, up to $1,500,000. If nobody ever picks 57 straight hitting days, MLB.com will award the person with the longest streak of at least 20 a $10,000 prize.

How to Sign Up and Play

The Beat the Streak contest is very easy to sign up for and play. Direct your browser to the Beat the Streak website and sign up. No personal information, just email, birthday and a password. To play, you log into your account and pick one player everyday whom you think will get a hit that day. You can pick up to a week in advance if you don't have 30 seconds everyday to make your pick. If your pick gets a hit that day, your streak continues!

Now, you may not know anything about baseball or you may be an expert. Either way, picking players that will achieve at least one hit in a game may seem difficult. Check out the blogs, they have the day's "favorites". Look at the "Kings of the Plate" page on the contest website. This page shows the "top picks" for each day.

In making your daily picks, focus on the player's overall batting average and the batting average against the pitcher he is opposing that day. This can be done right on the page you make your pick.

Fantasy baseball and the many contests that parallel the game are a fun and interesting way to get involved in America's pastime. If you have children that don't have the attention span to get through a baseball game, fantasy and other contests are an remarkable way to get them involved, it gives them something to care about and pretty soon you'll have another baseball fan in the house!

This article is for informational purposes only. Please read MLB.com's Beat the Streak Contest official rules regarding qualifications, prizes and how to play.