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Yes.
162 is correct and not a misprint.
According to a young friend who studies these things (who ever knew there were such people?), apparently even though the Sox play 162 regular season games, they start the year with a magic number of 163.
Something about a need to put a cookie jar out of reach.
Once I return from this week’s trip to New Orleans, I’ll explain all of that in a future post for the few of you out there who may be interested in the metrics of such ‘foolishness’.
And the White Sox, Detroit, Houston, LAA, Seattle, Atlanta, Mets, Nats, Dodgers, Arizona, Cubs, Brewers also have magic numbers of 162, if I fully understand what this sabermatrician is trying to teach me.
Also, thanx to all of you who succumbed to my constant nagging (redundancy?) to participate in the 2013 MillersTime Baseball Contests.
I haven’t had time to put all the answers on a spread sheet yet; that will have to wait a week or so. But suffice it to say that not many of you picked either the Sox or the Yunkees to go all the way. In fact, many of you seem to believe neither will make it to the playoffs, but they will fight each other — for last place in the AL East.
Harrumph.
Better predictions for the Nats, however.
Cheers.
jere said:
The 163 thing has been “a thing” as long as I can remember. a 1985 article mentioning it. Basically, if you win 81 and they lose 81, both teams can finish in a tie at 81-81. So you need one more win or other team’s loss (adding one to the grand total of 81+81) to actually clinch.
Since the Red Sox gained a win and a Yanks loss, the magic number to clinch (over the Yanks specifically) drops 2 to 161. But against the other teams (who haven’t played), they only gained the one win, dropping it to 162.
jere said:
Okay I screwed up the html. Insert the word “Here’s” before the linked text and…you get the idea.
Elliott Trommald said:
Whose putting the stuff in your water back there? The Sox are a shoo in for the wildcard spot. We know the important things out here. Cheer up, Elliott