Cleveland Indians First-Place Clinch Scenario Cleveland's traditional magic number (relative to second-place Chicago) is 0 + 162 - 0 + 1 = 163. Cleveland's first-place clinch number is 156. Cleveland must win 156 more games (156 total) to clinch first place. If Cleveland 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 Cleveland 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 Cleveland' column gives the minimum number of games that each team will lose to Cleveland if Cleveland wins 156 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 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 Cleveland wins 156 more games (156 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 156, consider the following scenario in which Cleveland wins 155 more games (155 total) but does not finish in first place: Team W L PCT GB Detroit 156 6 0.963 0.00 Cleveland 155 7 0.957 1.00 Minnesota 93 69 0.574 63.00 Kansas City 91 71 0.562 65.00 Chicago 83 79 0.512 73.00 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: Cleveland currently has 0 wins against Chicago and 0 losses. Cleveland wins 13 additional games against Chicago 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 Chicago and 0 losses. Detroit wins 13 additional games against Chicago and loses 0. Detroit wins the series 13 games to 0 Detroit currently has 0 wins against Cleveland and 0 losses. Detroit wins 7 additional games against Cleveland and loses 6. Detroit wins the series 7 games to 6 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 Detroit currently has 0 wins against Minnesota and 0 losses. Detroit wins 13 additional games against Minnesota and loses 0. Detroit wins the series 13 games to 0 Kansas City currently has 0 wins against Chicago and 0 losses. Kansas City wins 9 additional games against Chicago and loses 4. Kansas City wins the series 9 games to 4 Minnesota currently has 0 wins against Chicago and 0 losses. Minnesota wins 7 additional games against Chicago and loses 6. Minnesota wins the series 7 games to 6 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 73 games agains teams outside the division and loses 37. Cleveland wins 110 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. Detroit wins 110 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. Kansas City wins 82 games agains teams outside the division and loses 28. Minnesota wins 73 games agains teams outside the division and loses 37. 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