Getting Started with the Magic Number Idea
I started thinking about how the Phillies are doing in the playoff race this morning. My coffee was still hot when I grabbed my laptop, fired up a simple spreadsheet, and pulled up the latest baseball standings. The magic number thing popped into my head because I kept hearing folks on sports radio talk about it.
How I Built My Tracker
First, I scribbled down the Phillies’ current wins on a sticky note. Then I checked the closest team chasing ’em in our division – that’s the Braves right now. Did some quick math: 163 minus Phillies wins minus Braves losses. That gave me today’s magic number. Slapped it into the spreadsheet with the date.
Made three columns:
- Date
- Phillies result
- Braves result
Every time either team plays, I update the sheet immediately after the game. Like yesterday, when Philly lost to the Mets but the Braves got wrecked by Miami? Magic number still dropped by one. Made a new column that auto-calculates the new number after each entry. Didn’t bother with fancy graphs – just raw numbers and simple color highlights when it decreases.
Why This Actually Matters
Before tracking this, I thought clinching playoffs was mostly about the Phillies’ own wins. Nah. Seeing the Braves’ box scores burn feels just as important. My spreadsheet screams it clearly: if Philly wins AND Atlanta loses on the same day, the magic number drops twice. But if one fails? Stagnation. Hit me that rival losses are like free bonus points.
Been obsessively refreshing scores this past week. Every time that number shrinks, I text my buddy Mike like “yo, another one down!” But last week when both teams kept winning? Magic number froze. I actually yelled at the TV when Acuña hit that walk-off homer against Pittsburgh. Stupid Braves winning. It delayed our party.
What This Mess Taught Me
Doing this daily grind showed me how much chaos remains in late September. That magic number’s still at 14 today. We’re close but not close, y’know? Each Phillies loss cuts my soul now – especially if Atlanta sneaks a win. Before tracking, playoff tension was vague background noise. Now? I see every pitch, every swing, every damn rain delay as playoff chess moves. Stressful as hell, but man – you appreciate the ride more. Still can’t believe that number doesn’t change when the Phillies win if Atlanta wins too. That’s baseball math brutality.
