It’s not often that a record is threatened. It’s even less often that a record for futility is threatened by two players having good seasons. The 2017 season is such a season, as José Martínez and Nenad Santrac enter the season’s final week in a bitter struggle for the league lead and season record for futility at the plate. Tied at 188 strikeouts, Martínez and Santrac each need just five strikeouts in their respective teams final six games to tie José Lópes and Todd Hansen, who K’d 193 times in 2012 and 2008, respectively. Adding to the (any?) excitement, Martínez and Santrac will play each other for the season’s final series, as Santrac’s Kalamazoo Badgers visit Martínez‘ Canton Longshoremen.

The dirty little secret about this year’s race to the contact bottom is that Martinez and Santrac are the rare superultramega-high strikeout players who are nevertheless very good offensive players. Take the two current Kings of the K, Lopes (.213/.288/.425 in 607 ABs in 2012 for -10.4 VORP) and Hanson (.322/.343/.347 in 674 ABs in 2008 for 5.3 VORP). Lopes’ 2012 was a power-happy black hole of offense, while Hansen’s 2008 was one of the oddest and emptiest offensive seasons in history. But for 65 steals in 94 attempts, Hanson’s .322 batting average would have likely produced a negative VORP.

Martinez, the more accomplished of 2017’s two contenders for history, is going through his worst offensive season in his three year PEBA career, but has still accumulated 18.4 VORP while racking up his first triple-digit RBI season. With a .284/.315/.461 campaign, Martinez has already set career highs for games played (154) at bats (664), hits (188), and RBI (104), even while headed for career lows in homers (25 after hitting 34 and 31 in his first two seasons), batting average, and slugging percentage. The disappointing season comes at an inopportune time for Martinez, who is scheduled to hit arbitration for the first time this offseason.

Santrac, on the other hand, has burst onto the scene with a power and speed combination that has garnered 27.6 VORP to date in his first season as a full-time player. Santrac’s disappointing slash stats of .241/.304/.432 mask a valuable season that has also seen him hit 24 homers, drive in 90 runs, while stealing 33 bases in 37 attempts.

Whatever the outcome, for the weekend’s final season, Canton’s Svab Memorial Stadium may become the center of whiffs.