#BREWERS MAGIC NUMBER UPDATE#
#BREWERS MAGIC NUMBER SERIES#

312 over his last 30 games after batting. Take care of our business, and we've earned that.'Д¬hristian Yelich has been taking care of business of late, going 6-for-13 with three RBIs over his last three games. You work this hard to build this lead and it's in our hands. 'At this point, it's stacking up wins and if teams behind us lose, it gets tough on them, for sure,' Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. The Brewers padded their lead with second-place Cincinnati's 4-1 setback to the Chicago Cubs. Milwaukee posted its eighth win in 11 outings on Wednesday with a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

#BREWERS MAGIC NUMBER SERIES#

The Brewers (86-55) look to continue their spirited surge on Friday in the opener of a three-game series against the host Cleveland Indians. By the time we get back together, that magic number could be pretty tiny.The Milwaukee Brewers have boosted their lead in the National League Central to a franchise-record 12 games while trimming their magic number to clinching the division to 10.

In honor of Labor Day, PalmerвЂ™s Perspective will be taking a week off, partly so I can watch some baseball. And watch the number dwindle! But to be safe, if you picked up a copy of last weekвЂ™s Sports Illustrated, throw it out. Now you can follow along at home with just a pencil and eraser.

So itвЂ™ll look like this when you put it on your fridge:

#BREWERS MAGIC NUMBER UPDATE#

All you have to do is subtract those two numbers from 163 and you get the magic number, which you should write in pencil too, so you can update them daily. Then write in pencil the number of Brewers wins (81) and then Cardinals losses (64). Take the total number of games in a baseball season, 162, add 1 = 163, so write 163 in ink on a piece of paper. There is a simpler way to get the same number, a formula you can keep on your fridge and only worry about two stats. The Brewers have lost 54, the Cards 64, so thatвЂ™s 10 (brilliant, eh?). You take the number of games the Brewers have remaining, add one (to eliminate a tie), then subtract the difference in the number of losses between the Brewers and the Cardinals. Major League Baseball uses a formula that would have Einstein scratching his head. When the magic number hits zero, bingo, youвЂ™ve won the division. the Cardinals, loses, the magic number also goes down by one. Each time you win, the magic number goes down by one. This means that they need to win 18 more games to win the division, assuming the Cardinals win all of their remaining games. The Brewers magic number right now is 18. ThatвЂ™s where this thing called the magic number comes in. So how do you calculate what the Brewers need to do to finish first in the division? That begs the question, then, what will it take to win the Central Division title? The Brewers have a 10 ВЅ game lead over the Cardinals, who come to town tonight for three games. But they went on to sweep the Cubs at Miller Park over the weekend. After they lost their game to the Pirates last Wednesday, the day the issue came out, I began to worry. Wikipedia has a wonderful summary here, which if you have some time you might find interesting.Д«ut so far there hasnвЂ™t been a jinx for the Brewers. The legend picked up speed after that, and there so many examples of the jinx being real, continuing into 2011, itвЂ™s mind-boggling. Immediately after the issue came out, the BravesвЂ™ nine game winning streak was snapped, and Mathews broke his hand in the game causing him to miss seven games. It started in 1954, ironically when Milwaukee BravesвЂ™ slugger Eddie Mathews appeared on the cover.

There is a huge faction that believes there is a jinx associated with being on the cover of SI, and itвЂ™s not without foundation. ItвЂ™s the first time the Crew has graced the cover since 1987. I must confess I got nervous when the Brewers, specifically Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder and Nyjer Morgan, made the cover of last weekвЂ™s Sports Illustrated. The question is, can we start counting now? Or is it too soon? And what about the SI jinx? With the Brewers closing in on the Central Division title, I started exploring exactly how many games they need to win to get there, and how we can keep track. IвЂ™m fearful that this will solidify my reputation of being a bit of a baseball geek.