Magic numbers? Roll your own, AP says.

AP agate desk says "they'll try" to get baseball magic numbers out there "sometime this week." Better hurry, as the White Sox magic number is 5, per MLB.com.

 

Back in the old days, you could set your watch by this little old lady who would call up our shop's desk every September asking "what does 'magic number' mean?"

 

Wild card standings would be nice, too.

Meanwhile, for those scoring at the office:

http://baseball.about.com/od/termstatglossar1/a/magicnumber.htm

 

I heard about this lady who scored at our office. They asked her to clean out her desk.

 

Did security at least get a videotape?

I recall calling AP last year about wild card standings, got referred to Stats LLC and was told they were part of the expanded glance. Would it be that difficult to provide a customer some service?

 

I wish that were true, Henry, but the sad truth for us Chi-Sox fans is ... Minnesota's magic number is 4 after Chicago just lost its sixth straight at home.

 

Ummm... Ever hear of MLB.com? Click on standings and there's a category called E#. That's the magic number to eliminate that team. Look at the second-place team's E# and that's the magic number to clinch the division -- without having to do the math.

 

Yes. But I tell you what I've heard of, and it's that $125K check we send the AP every year. And for that, we expect a certain basic and predictable level of service. And drag-assing until Sept. 20 before starting magic numbers, for instance, ain't getting it.

 

I know of one magic number that hasn't changed in two days. (EDIT: Make it four. )





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Amen, bro!

 

AP's customer service is so gawd awful...