You might have known that Alex Rodriguez's consecutive games played streak ended last month at a league record 1,054 straight games. But Did You Know what other batting records could fall this year?

Batting Average

2007 Jim Edmonds (.414) vs. 2005 Carlos Guillen (.398)
Newark's Carlos Guillen set the bar pretty high two years ago when he set the league record in batting average, shattering the previous mark of .384 set by Deion Sanders in 1993. But Guillen's record is being challenged by a fellow Sugar Bear. Jim Edmonds is hitting a lofty .414 (99 hits in 239 at-bats); at his current pace, he needs to collect at least 77 hits in the 200 or so at-bats he has remaining (a .385 batting average) to stay ahead of Guillen. In addition to Guillen, Edmonds also is racing his own plate appearances: he needs 502 to qualify for the batting title. At his current pace, he'll just squeak through, with a projected 504 plate appearances. Even a minor injury, or a run of left-handed pitchers that sends him to the bench, could cost him his shot at the record. Hoboken's Miguel Cabrera, hitting .373, is a longshot to catch Guillen -- at his current pace, he'd have to hit .427 over the second half (128 for 300) to set the batting average record.

On-Base Percentage

2007 Jim Edmonds (.478) vs. 2005 Barry Bonds (.538)
It would take a phenomenal second half from Jim Edmonds to challenge Barry Bonds's OBP record. In fact, Edmonds is unlikely just to crack a .500 OBP; that in and of itself would be an accomplishment, since no player has ever done it other than Bonds (who did it three times). And there's still that pesky plate appearance rule to worry about, too. Carolina's Travis Hafner is in second, with a .460 OBP.

Slugging Percentage, On-Base Plus Slugging

2007 Jim Edmonds (.770/1.248) vs. 2002 Barry Bonds (.890, 1.410)
When the guy you're chasing is Barry Bonds, you're having a pretty good year. Bonds ripped up the record book for the first time in 2002, setting league records in OBP, SLG, OPS and runs scored. (He later broke the OBP record in '03 and again in '05; the runs scored record fell two years ago.) As in OBP, Edmonds really doesn't have a chance to catch Bonds in either SLG or OPS. But he could become just the second player in league history -- other than Bonds in '02 -- to win the so-called Sabermetric Triple Crown (BA, OBP, SLG). Once again, Edmonds's biggest problem is having to get at least 502 plate appearances, as at his current pace he'll finish with just 504. No one else is even within 50 points of Edmonds in SLG (Philly's Albert Pujols is at .715) or OPS (Carolina's Travis Hafner is at 1.157).

Runs Scored

2007 Nick Johnson (84) vs. 2005 Bobby Abreu (184)
Sugar Bear batters have a tough time setting even team records! Newark's Bobby Abreu set the league record in 2005 when he scored 184 runs, shattering the old mark of 163 runs set by Arkansas's Chuck Knoblauch in 1997 and tied by Barry Bonds in 2002. (It must be noted this statistic wasn't kept in the offense-crazy Microleague Era). At Johnson's current pace, he'd score about 162 runs -- well behind Abreu, but at least close to the old record. Another Sugar Bear, Carlos Guillen, is just 2 runs behind Johnson; four other Sugar Bears, including Abreu himself, are in the top 10.

Runs Batted In

2007 Manny Ramirez (92) vs. 1999 Sammy Sosa (181)
The all-time record, set during the Microleague Era, is 225 RBIs by Newark's Ryan Klesko in 1996. We can assume that record is safe. But what about the modern record of 181 RBIs, set in 1999 by Vancouver's Sammy Sosa? Newark's Manny Ramirez is driving in 1.11 runs per game, a pace that would give him 174 RBIs -- just seven shy of the record. We'll see if the Man-Ram can stay hot -- and healthy -- over the second half.

Hits

2007 Ichiro Suzuki (126) vs. 2005 Ichiro Suzuki (268)
The battle of the Ichiros! Actually, it's not much of a battle; Ichiro leads the league in hits, with 126, but at his current pace he'd finish the season with "only" 246. That would be good enough for second place in the Modern Era, moving past Jim Eisenreich's 238 in 1997, but 22 hits shy of Suzuki's own record from 2005. (The all-time record is 295 hits, set by Cheyenne's Deion Sanders in 1993.) For Ichiro to reach 268 hits, he needs 142 in the approximately 343 at-bats he has remaining this season; that'd be a .414 batting average over the second half. Possible, for a guy like Ichiro, but certainly not likely. Philly's Albert Pujols has 125 hits and is on pace for 238; Hoboken's Miguel Cabrera has 124 hits, but because he's played in a couple less games than Pujols, actually is on pace to have one more hit, at 239. 

Doubles

2007 Grady Sizemore (34) vs 2000 Terry Shumpert (69)
A dozen players have collected 60 or more doubles in a season, but will anyone ever reach 70? That's the magic number needed to eclipse Terry Shumpert's 69 two-baggers with Jerusalem (Stanhope) in 2000. The only player with a realistic chance at breaking the record is Carolina's Grady Sizemore, who had 34 doubles in the first half; at his current pace, he'd finish with 65 two-baggers, which would tie him for 6th place all-time. Newark's Carlos Guillen (32 2B) and Philly's Albert Pujols (30 2B) will have to pick up the pace just to break the 60-double plateau. 

Triples

2007 Wes Helms (14) vs. 2007 Jose Reyes (24)
The all-time triples record of 62 in one year -- set by Cheyenne's Deion Sanders in his crazy 1993 season -- will of course never be broken, unless we go back to Microleague. But the modern triples record has been busted more times than Paris Hilton. It was set in 1997 by Toledo's Lance Johnson (17), then broken three times over the next five seasons -- Phoenix's Juan Uribe in 2002 (20), Las Vegas's Carl Crawford in 2005 (23) and Westwood/D.C.'s Jose Reyes last year (24). Marietta's Wes Helms seems an unlikely guy to join this group of speed demons, but he leads the league with 14 three-baggers this season, and at his current pace will have 13 more -- giving him one more than Reyes. But the D.C. shortstop might not be willing to give up his triples crown so easily, as he's got 11 this year. At his current pace, that would give him 21 triples on the season, certainly within striking distance if Helms falters. 

Home Runs

2007 Ryan Howard (33) vs 1999 Sammy Sosa (73)
In league history, only three men have hit 70 or more home runs in a season: Newark's Mark McGwire, who set the all-time mark with 84 in 1996, and the DMB Era record with 70 in 1998; Vancouver's Sammy Sosa, who a year later broke the DMB Era record with 73; and Arkansas's Barry Bonds, who came up just of the modern record when he swatted 72 big flies in 2002. No one appears likely to join that group this season, let alone setting a new longball record. Hillsborough's Ryan Howard leads the league in home runs (33) but at his current pace will hit "only" 61 home runs; that wouldn't come close to the record, but it would be the most long balls since Jim Thome hit 65 for Newark in 2003. Philly's Albert Pujols, in 2nd with 32 HRs, also is on pace to hit 61. Newark's Manny Ramirez and D.C.'s Carlos Beltran are tied for 3rd with 31 HRs; they're on pace to hit 59 and 57 HRs, respectively.

Walks

2007 Travis Hafner (75) vs. 2003 Barry Bonds (172)
This record appears fairly safe as well, as Carolina's Travis Hafner is on pace for just 140 walks, a far cry from the modern record of 172 free passes for Barry Bonds in 2003. Bonds came up just short of the all-time record of 176 walks, set by Newark's Mark McGwire in 1996. 

Strikeouts

2007 Ryan Howard (126) vs. 2005 Adam Dunn (244)
Ah, the record no one wants to break! Four players are already over triple digits in strikeouts this season, led by Hillsborough's Ryan Howard and his 126 whiffs. At his current rate of 1.45 Ks per game, Howard will strike out 234 times this season -- a prodigious amount, but not quite enough to break Adam Dunn's DMB Era record of 244 in '05. (However, it would rank second in the modern era, surpassing Mark McGwire's 232 strikeouts in 1999.) It seems unlikely that any player today would be bad enough to break Rob Deer's all-time record of 357 strikeouts for the Waikiki Keys in 1993. 

Stolen Bases

2007 Jose Reyes (31) vs. 1997 Kenny Lofton (78)
During the Microleague Era, the record for steals was just 27, by Delino DeShields in '93. The very first year of the DMB Era, Vancouver's Kenny Lofton blew that record out of the water by stealing 78 bags, and Otis Nixon came in just behind him at 74. Three years later, Roger Cedeno just missed breaking the record with 77 steals. But that was it, as teams in the early part of this decade got away from basestealing to focus on the long ball. In recent years, it's made a comeback, as Chone Figgins swiped 68 bases last year, the first player with more than 50 since Cedeno. This year most teams seem to be less aggressive on the bases, with one notable exception -- the Bushslappers, who have 100 stolen bases this year, more than twice as many as any other team. The Bushslappers have four guys in double digits but two in particular are really terrorizing pitchers and catchers -- Jose Reyes, with a league-leading 31 steals, and Carl Crawford, second in the league with 26 steals. But they'd really have to kick it into high gear to come close to Lofton's record; Reyes is on pace for 59 steals, while Crawford is projected for 49. 

Stolen Base Percentage

2007 Vernon Wells (.929) vs. 2005 Bobby Abreu (.967)
Newark's Bobby Abreu stole 29 bases in 2005 and was caught just once, setting the all-time record for stolen base percentage with at least 20 attempts (data wasn't available before '97; minimum 20 attempts). To break the record, if you're caught stealing just twice you have to be successful in your other 60 attempts! That rules out quite a few base stealers. One possible candidate to break the record is Philly's Vernon Wells, who is 13-for-14 on the basepaths; he needs to steal 17 more bases without getting caught to break Abreu's record. Actually, a guy with a slightly better chance is Arkansas's Brandon Phillips. Even though Phillips has just 7 steals, that's actually the most of any player who has yet to be caught this season. Phillips can break Abreu's record by going 13-for-13, or, if he gets caught, 24-for-25.