San Francisco Giants First-Place Clinch Scenario San Francisco's traditional magic number (relative to first-place Los Angeles) is 56 + 67 - 52 + 1 = 72. San Francisco's first-place clinch number is 65. San Francisco must win 65 more games (117 total) to clinch first place. If San Francisco wins 65 more games, their final win total will be at least 117. The table below shows the best case scenario for each of the other teams if San Francisco wins 65 of their remaining 67 games and loses the other 2. For each team, the table shows the current record (number of wins (W) and losses (L)) and the number of games that team has left to play (GL) in the regular season. Taking the schedule of games left to play into account, the 'Losses to San Francisco' column gives the minimum number of games that each team will lose to San Francisco if San Francisco wins 65 more games. Assuming that a team wins all of its remaining games except for the games it loses to SanFrancisco, the resulting maximum number of wins is shown in the 'Maximum W' column. Team W L GL Losses to San Francisco Maximum W Los Angeles 56 39 67 9 - 2 = 7 116 San Diego 51 43 68 7 - 2 = 5 114 Arizona 46 49 67 6 - 2 = 4 109 Colorado 22 72 68 6 - 2 = 4 86 The table above shows that if San Francisco wins 65 more games (117 total), then they will finish the season in first place in the division. To see that San Francisco's first-place clinch number cannot be less than 65, consider the following scenario in which San Francisco wins 64 more games (116 total) but does not finish in first place: Team W L PCT GB Los Angeles 117 45 0.722 0.00 San Francisco 116 46 0.716 1.00 San Diego 87 75 0.537 30.00 Arizona 84 78 0.519 33.00 Colorado 69 93 0.426 48.00 To construct the scenario, we start with the current standings in the division: Team W L GL PCT GB Los Angeles 56 39 67 0.589 0.0 San Francisco 52 43 67 0.547 4.0 San Diego 51 43 68 0.543 4.5 Arizona 46 49 67 0.484 10.0 Colorado 22 72 68 0.234 33.5 Next, we show how the remaining series of games in the division play out in the scenario: Colorado currently has 2 wins against Arizona and 4 losses. Colorado wins 5 additional games against Arizona and loses 2. Colorado wins the series 7 games to 6 Los Angeles currently has 4 wins against Arizona and 3 losses. Los Angeles wins 6 additional games against Arizona and loses 0. Los Angeles wins the series 10 games to 3 Los Angeles currently has 6 wins against Colorado and 0 losses. Los Angeles wins 7 additional games against Colorado and loses 0. Los Angeles wins the series 13 games to 0 Los Angeles currently has 5 wins against San Diego and 2 losses. Los Angeles wins 6 additional games against San Diego and loses 0. Los Angeles wins the series 11 games to 2 San Diego currently has 3 wins against Arizona and 4 losses. San Diego wins 6 additional games against Arizona and loses 0. San Diego wins the series 9 games to 4 San Diego currently has 5 wins against Colorado and 1 losses. San Diego wins 6 additional games against Colorado and loses 1. San Diego wins the series 11 games to 2 San Francisco currently has 3 wins against Arizona and 4 losses. San Francisco wins 6 additional games against Arizona and loses 0. San Francisco wins the series 9 games to 4 San Francisco currently has 5 wins against Colorado and 2 losses. San Francisco wins 6 additional games against Colorado and loses 0. San Francisco wins the series 11 games to 2 San Francisco currently has 2 wins against Los Angeles and 2 losses. San Francisco wins 6 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 3. San Francisco wins the series 8 games to 5 San Francisco currently has 2 wins against San Diego and 4 losses. San Francisco wins 7 additional games against San Diego and loses 0. San Francisco wins the series 9 games to 4 Arizona wins 36 games agains teams outside the division and loses 6. Colorado wins 41 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. Los Angeles wins 39 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. San Diego wins 24 games agains teams outside the division and loses 18. San Francisco wins 39 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. Combining the current standings with the wins and losses from the scenario results in the final standings listed above. # San Francisco Giants' magic number # San Francisco's magic number # Giants' magic number # MLB Playoff Race