The table below gives the "Magic Numbers" (and rounded Games Ahead/Behind) among the leaders of the National League West for 2002. The Magic Number between a pair of teams is the number of Your Team's Wins plus Your Opponent's Losses which will put Your Team ahead of Your Opponent at the end of the season.

Your Team	Record			Your Opponent					Games Remaining
	W	L	%	Vs. Rockies	Vs. Padres	Vs. Giants	Vs. Dodgers	Vs. D-Backs
Rockies	73	89	0.000		cl (7)	23 (-22½)	20 (-19)	26 (-25)
Padres	66	96	0.000	8 (-7)		30 (-29½)	27 (-26)	33 (-32)
Giants	95	66	0.000	cl (22½)	cl (29½)		cl (3½)	4 (-2½)
Dodgers	92	70	0.000	cl (19)	cl (26)	4 (-3½)		7 (-6)
D-Backs	98	64	0.000	cl (25)	cl (32)	cl (2½)	cl (6)

For example, to find the Rockies magic number against the Padres, follow the Rockies row across to the Padres column. But don't forget that that number only tells you the magic number for the Rockies vs. the Padres... if the Giants made a run for the lead, you would want to calculate the Rockies vs. Giants magic number separately. This table lets you see it all at a glance!

For more detailed information about the "Magic Number" and what it means, visit Beau Sharbrough's Magic Numbers, Revisited.

Inspirations (also known as Links)

No Rangers fan is as devoted as Jaime Newberg, author of the Newberg Minor League Report. It's a great source for updates on the Rangers farm system -- in fact, those who followed the Newberg Report knew what Gabe Kapler could do months before his season-opening heroics. It's the preferred source of minor league info for Dallas' #1 sports radio station, 1310 AM "The Ticket"! Don't miss out... but if you do, just visit the famous new web site at NewbergReport.com for a full archive.

Even if you know what it will take to win the pennant, nobody can predict the future, right? Wrong! Check out CoolStandings.com, a site that looks into a computerized crystal ball and determines who will come out on top. According to the FAQ, they run "millions" of simulations every day to calculate the chance each team has of winning its division or a wildcard spot. Does it work? Find out for yourself -- you can go back to any day of the 2005 or 2006 seasons and compare their projections to what actually happened. Check out the graph of the Texas Rangers' 2006 season for the familiar story of a team that peaks in the summer, then goes on to land in the basement. But compare it with the 2007 season, where hope was lost early and definitively... maybe a rollercoaster isn't such a bad ride after all.

This may not be the prettiest Magic Number page around, but it gets the job done! It was inspired by Chris Pikulinski's Rangers Magic Number Page, which was definitely the place to be when the Rangers won the American League West in 1996! You can follow along here as the Rangers add another pennant to the collection at The Ballpark in Arlington.

Additional useful info on the Rangers comes from the Texas Rangers Discussion List. It doesn't have a web page, but you can subscribe by sending a note to list...@listserv.tamu.edu and include a line in the body that says SUBSCRIBE RANGERS. Be ready for a dozen or more messages a day through the season, every one a jewel of insightful writing and reasoned opinion. (Yeah, right.)

It's a lot easier to join the once-a-day Out Of Bounds mailing list, described by its head honcho as "an almost-daily sports newsletter originating from Dallas, TX. Consequently, OOB focuses on Dallas area teams. The real emphasis is on baseball, but other sports are discussed from time to time. Sometimes serious, usually funny, and always controversial, OOB is sure to please the most discriminating of sports fans." Check out http://outofbounds.homestead.com/oob.html and find out why you aren't receiving your daily dose of OOB!

Page created: 09/13/2004
Last update (besides latest standings): 03/25/2008

Since The Ballpark In Arlington opened in 1994,  00002  fans have sat on a railing and fallen off.
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Thanks for your support! - Robert Brooks