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Nationals Magic Number provides daily updates as the Washington Nationals try to win their division. Today’s magic number for the Nats to clinch the N.L. East: 8
What else is 8: If you’re a sports team and your star player’s name includes “burg,” like Nats pitcher Stephen Strasburg, it’s incumbent upon you to sell a hamburger named after that player at the stadium. The Nats fulfilled their obligation in 2012.
Here’s how the team described the StrasBurger when it announced the offering ahead of the 2012 season: “Things that weigh about eight pounds: One gallon of water, the average newborn, a human head … And the StrasBurger.”
A newborn? None of those things sounds appetizing. Plus, the eight-pound monstrosity cost $59. The Nats did a swell job with the attention-getting aspects of this burger, but they apparently forgot to consider whether anybody would want the thing. The StrasBurger was quietly retired after the 2012 season.
Flashback: the 8 pound Strasburger at 2012 home opener. Not on menu this year at @Nationals Park. #wtop pic.twitter.com/g8uSpntXNK
— Neal Augenstein (@AugensteinWTOP) April 1, 2013
What happened yesterday: The Nats lost to the New York Mets for only the third time in 14 games this year, but the second-place Braves lost to baseball’s worst team, the Texas Rangers, so the Nats still made progress toward winning their division.
What’s happening today: The Nats-Mets series continues in New York at 7:10 p.m., and the Braves play the Rangers again this afternoon in Texas, starting at 1:05 p.m.