Chicago White Sox First-Place Clinch Scenario Chicago's traditional magic number (relative to second-place Cleveland) is 0 + 162 - 0 + 1 = 163. Chicago's first-place clinch number is 156. Chicago must win 156 more games (156 total) to clinch first place. If Chicago wins 156 more games, their final win total will be at least 156. The table below shows the best case scenario for each of the other teams if Chicago wins 156 of their remaining 162 games and loses the other 6. 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 Chicago' column gives the minimum number of games that each team will lose to Chicago if Chicago wins 156 more games. Assuming that a team wins all of its remaining games except for the games it loses to ChicagoWhiteSox, the resulting maximum number of wins is shown in the 'Maximum W' column. Team W L GL Losses to Chicago Maximum W Cleveland 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 Detroit 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 Kansas City 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 Minnesota 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 The table above shows that if Chicago wins 156 more games (156 total), then they will finish the season in first place in the division. To see that Chicago's first-place clinch number cannot be less than 156, consider the following scenario in which Chicago wins 155 more games (155 total) but does not finish in first place: Team W L PCT GB Cleveland 155 7 0.957 0.00 Chicago 155 7 0.957 0.00 Detroit 90 72 0.556 65.00 Minnesota 63 99 0.389 92.00 Kansas City 22 140 0.136 133.00 Tie breakers Cleveland wins the season series with Chicago 7 games to 6. To construct the scenario, we start with the current standings in the division: Team W L GL PCT GB Chicago 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Cleveland 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Detroit 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Kansas City 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Minnesota 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Next, we show how the remaining series of games in the division play out in the scenario: Chicago currently has 0 wins against Detroit and 0 losses. Chicago wins 13 additional games against Detroit and loses 0. Chicago wins the series 13 games to 0 Chicago currently has 0 wins against Kansas City and 0 losses. Chicago wins 13 additional games against Kansas City and loses 0. Chicago wins the series 13 games to 0 Chicago currently has 0 wins against Minnesota and 0 losses. Chicago wins 13 additional games against Minnesota and loses 0. Chicago wins the series 13 games to 0 Cleveland currently has 0 wins against Chicago and 0 losses. Cleveland wins 7 additional games against Chicago and loses 6. Cleveland wins the series 7 games to 6 Cleveland currently has 0 wins against Detroit and 0 losses. Cleveland wins 13 additional games against Detroit and loses 0. Cleveland wins the series 13 games to 0 Cleveland currently has 0 wins against Kansas City and 0 losses. Cleveland wins 13 additional games against Kansas City and loses 0. Cleveland wins the series 13 games to 0 Cleveland currently has 0 wins against Minnesota and 0 losses. Cleveland wins 13 additional games against Minnesota and loses 0. Cleveland wins the series 13 games to 0 Detroit currently has 0 wins against Kansas City and 0 losses. Detroit wins 13 additional games against Kansas City and loses 0. Detroit wins the series 13 games to 0 Minnesota currently has 0 wins against Detroit and 0 losses. Minnesota wins 13 additional games against Detroit and loses 0. Minnesota wins the series 13 games to 0 Minnesota currently has 0 wins against Kansas City and 0 losses. Minnesota wins 13 additional games against Kansas City and loses 0. Minnesota wins the series 13 games to 0 Chicago wins 110 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. Cleveland wins 109 games agains teams outside the division and loses 1. Detroit wins 77 games agains teams outside the division and loses 33. Kansas City wins 22 games agains teams outside the division and loses 88. Minnesota wins 37 games agains teams outside the division and loses 73. Combining the current standings with the wins and losses from the scenario results in the final standings listed above. # Chicago White Sox' magic number # Chicago's magic number # White Sox' magic number # MLB Playoff Race