Detroit Tigers First-Place Clinch Scenario Detroit's traditional magic number (relative to second-place Chicago) is 0 + 162 - 0 + 1 = 163. Detroit's first-place clinch number is 156. Detroit must win 156 more games (156 total) to clinch first place. If Detroit 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 Detroit 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 Detroit' column gives the minimum number of games that each team will lose to Detroit if Detroit wins 156 more games. Assuming that a team wins all of its remaining games except for the games it loses to Detroit, the resulting maximum number of wins is shown in the 'Maximum W' column. Team W L GL Losses to Detroit Maximum W Chicago 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 Cleveland 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 Detroit wins 156 more games (156 total), then they will finish the season in first place in the division. To see that Detroit's first-place clinch number cannot be less than 156, consider the following scenario in which Detroit wins 155 more games (155 total) but does not finish in first place: Team W L PCT GB Chicago 156 6 0.963 0.00 Detroit 155 7 0.957 0.00 Cleveland 99 63 0.611 56.00 Minnesota 50 112 0.309 105.00 Kansas City 32 130 0.198 123.00 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: Chicago currently has 0 wins against Cleveland and 0 losses. Chicago wins 13 additional games against Cleveland and loses 0. Chicago wins the series 13 games to 0 Chicago currently has 0 wins against Detroit and 0 losses. Chicago wins 7 additional games against Detroit and loses 6. Chicago wins the series 7 games to 6 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 Detroit currently has 0 wins against Cleveland and 0 losses. Detroit wins 13 additional games against Cleveland and loses 0. Detroit 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 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 Cleveland and 0 losses. Kansas City wins 13 additional games against Cleveland and loses 0. Kansas City wins the series 13 games to 0 Minnesota currently has 0 wins against Cleveland and 0 losses. Minnesota wins 13 additional games against Cleveland 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 99 games agains teams outside the division and loses 11. Detroit wins 110 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. Kansas City wins 19 games agains teams outside the division and loses 91. Minnesota wins 24 games agains teams outside the division and loses 86. Combining the current standings with the wins and losses from the scenario results in the final standings listed above. # Detroit Tigers' magic number # Detroit's magic number # Tigers' magic number # MLB Playoff Race