Cleveland Indians First-Place Clinch Scenario Cleveland's traditional magic number (relative to first-place Chicago) is 1 + 161 - 0 + 1 = 163. Cleveland's first-place clinch number is 155. Cleveland must win 155 more games (155 total) to clinch first place. If Cleveland wins 155 more games, their final win total will be at least 155. The table below shows the best case scenario for each of the other teams if Cleveland wins 155 of their remaining 161 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 Cleveland' column gives the minimum number of games that each team will lose to Cleveland if Cleveland wins 155 more games. Assuming that a team wins all of its remaining games except for the games it loses to Cleveland, the resulting maximum number of wins is shown in the 'Maximum W' column. Team W L GL Losses to Cleveland Maximum W Chicago 1 0 161 13 - 6 = 7 155 *See tie-breaking notes below. Minnesota 1 0 161 13 - 6 = 7 155 *See tie-breaking notes below. Detroit 0 1 161 13 - 6 = 7 154 Kansas City 0 1 161 13 - 6 = 7 154 Tie-breakers: Cleveland has won 0 game(s) against Chicago and lost 0. There are 13 games left in the series. In the scenario above, Cleveland wins 0 + 7 = 7 games against Chicago and loses 0 + 6 = 6. Cleveland has won 0 game(s) against Minnesota and lost 0. There are 13 games left in the series. In the scenario above, Cleveland wins 0 + 7 = 7 games against Minnesota and loses 0 + 6 = 6. The table above shows that if Cleveland wins 155 more games (155 total), then they will finish the season in first place in the division. To see that Cleveland's first-place clinch number cannot be less than 155, consider the following scenario in which Cleveland wins 154 more games (154 total) but does not finish in first place: Team W L PCT GB Chicago 155 7 0.957 0.00 Cleveland 154 8 0.951 0.00 Minnesota 58 104 0.358 96.00 Detroit 57 105 0.352 97.00 Kansas City 34 128 0.210 120.00 To construct the scenario, we start with the current standings in the division: Team W L GL PCT GB Chicago 1 0 161 1.000 0.0 Minnesota 1 0 161 1.000 0.0 Cleveland 0 1 161 0.000 1.0 Detroit 0 1 161 0.000 1.0 Kansas City 0 1 161 0.000 1.0 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 1 wins against Kansas City and 0 losses. Minnesota wins 12 additional games against Kansas City and loses 0. Minnesota wins the series 13 games to 0 Chicago wins 109 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. Cleveland wins 108 games agains teams outside the division and loses 1. Detroit wins 44 games agains teams outside the division and loses 65. Kansas City wins 34 games agains teams outside the division and loses 76. Minnesota wins 32 games agains teams outside the division and loses 78. Combining the current standings with the wins and losses from the scenario results in the final standings listed above. # Cleveland Indians' magic number # Cleveland's magic number # Indians' magic number # MLB Playoff Race