By PATRICK GORDON | Managing Editor
June 24 2014, 1:00PM EDT.
@Philabaseball

The Associated Press announced plans Monday to significantly alter the format of their Major League Baseball game stories beginning next month.

After decades of providing a traditional 600-word game story at the conclusion of every contest, the AP will now offer 300 words about each game and up to five bullet points to highlight additional storylines, key plays, injuries and what's upcoming for a team.

"It’ll be faster to read, faster to publish and more customizable for newsrooms," said Paul Colford, director of media relations with The Associated Press. "Unique content will be more easily
highlighted and communicated."

The new format was discussed Monday during the gathering of Associated Press Media Editors in New York, and will be reviewed at the annual Associated Press Sports Editors conference later this week.

The AP opened its sports department in the 1920s and began covering MLB regularly in the 1930s. Currently, the AP has a reporter in every baseball stadium in the country, allowing newspapers short on staff or budget to pick up and publish a game story. 

The change in format allows news organizations the option to run the shorter 300-word game story in print, leaving the bullet points for use on mobile and web platforms.

"The top of the story will continue to look like a traditional AP game story," Colford said. "After 300 words, the text will break into a chunky-text presentation featuring up to five bullet points."

A shorter AP story means newsrooms in need of a story will receive copy sooner, allowing editors more time to modify the hometown slant and add details as needed.

The change in story format is scheduled to begin July 28.

- The Philadelphia Baseball Review is the top baseball news source in Philadelphia, providing news coverage and analysis of the 2014 Phillies and baseball in the Philadelphia region.    

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