Oakland Athletics First-Place Clinch Scenario

Oakland's traditional magic number (relative to first-place Seattle) is 41 + 80 - 39 + 1 = 83.
Oakland's first-place clinch number is 79.
Oakland must win 79 more games (118 total) to clinch first place.

If Oakland wins 79 more games, their final win total will be at least 118.
The table below shows the best case scenario for each of the other teams if Oakland wins 79 of their remaining 81 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 Oakland' column gives the
minimum number of games that each team will lose to Oakland if Oakland wins 79 more games. Assuming that a team wins all of its remaining games except for
the games it loses to Athletics, the resulting maximum number of wins is shown in the 'Maximum W' column.

Team             W	L	GL	Losses to Oakland	Maximum W
Seattle          41	41	80	       7 - 2 = 5	116
Texas            39	42	81	       6 - 2 = 4	116
Houston          40	43	79	       7 - 2 = 5	114
Los Angeles      34	48	80	       5 - 2 = 3	111

The table above shows that if Oakland wins 79 more games (118 total), then they will finish the season in first place in the division.

To see that Oakland's first-place clinch number cannot be less than 79, consider the following scenario in which Oakland wins 78 more games (117 total) but does not finish in first place:

Team             W	L	PCT	GB
Seattle          117	45	0.722	0.00
Oakland          117	45	0.722	0.00
Houston          99	63	0.611	18.00
Texas            68	94	0.420	49.00
Los Angeles      58	104	0.358	59.00

Tie breakers
Seattle wins the season series with Oakland 7 games to 6.

To construct the scenario, we start with the current standings in the division:
Team             W	L	GL	PCT	GB
Seattle          41	41	80	0.500	0.0
Houston          40	43	79	0.482	1.5
Oakland          39	42	81	0.481	1.5
Texas            39	42	81	0.481	1.5
Los Angeles      34	48	80	0.415	7.0

Next, we show how the remaining series of games in the division play out in the scenario:


Oakland currently has 3 wins against Houston and 3 losses.
  Oakland wins 7 additional games against Houston and loses 0.
  Oakland wins the series 10 games to 3

Oakland currently has 5 wins against Los Angeles and 3 losses.
  Oakland wins 5 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 0.
  Oakland wins the series 10 games to 3

Oakland currently has 4 wins against Texas and 3 losses.
  Oakland wins 6 additional games against Texas and loses 0.
  Oakland wins the series 10 games to 3

Houston currently has 3 wins against Los Angeles and 4 losses.
  Houston wins 6 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 0.
  Houston wins the series 9 games to 4

Houston currently has 5 wins against Texas and 2 losses.
  Houston wins 6 additional games against Texas and loses 0.
  Houston wins the series 11 games to 2

Los Angeles currently has 3 wins against Texas and 0 losses.
  Los Angeles wins 6 additional games against Texas and loses 4.
  Los Angeles wins the series 9 games to 4

Seattle currently has 4 wins against Oakland and 2 losses.
  Seattle wins 3 additional games against Oakland and loses 4.
  Seattle wins the series 7 games to 6

Seattle currently has 7 wins against Houston and 1 losses.
  Seattle wins 5 additional games against Houston and loses 0.
  Seattle wins the series 12 games to 1

Seattle currently has 1 wins against Los Angeles and 2 losses.
  Seattle wins 10 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 0.
  Seattle wins the series 11 games to 2

Seattle currently has 2 wins against Texas and 4 losses.
  Seattle wins 7 additional games against Texas and loses 0.
  Seattle wins the series 9 games to 4

Oakland wins 56 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0.
Houston wins 47 games agains teams outside the division and loses 8.
Los Angeles wins 18 games agains teams outside the division and loses 31.
Seattle wins 51 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0.
Texas wins 25 games agains teams outside the division and loses 27.

Combining the current standings with the wins and losses from the scenario results in the final standings listed above.
# Oakland Athletics' magic number
# Oakland's magic number
# Athletics' magic number
# MLB Playoff Race