Houston Astros First-Place Clinch Scenario

Houston's traditional magic number (relative to first-place Texas) is 11 + 142 - 6 + 1 = 148.
Houston's first-place clinch number is 142.
Houston must win 142 more games (148 total) to clinch first place.

If Houston wins 142 more games, their final win total will be at least 148.
The table below shows the best case scenario for each of the other teams if Houston wins all 142 of their remaining games.
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 Houston' column gives the
minimum number of games that each team will lose to Houston if Houston wins 142 more games. Assuming that a team wins all of its remaining games except for
the games it loses to Houston, the resulting maximum number of wins is shown in the 'Maximum W' column.

Team             W	L	GL	Losses to Houston	Maximum W
Texas            11	9	142	       6 - 0 = 6	147
Los Angeles      9	10	143	     13 - 0 = 13	139
Seattle          9	10	143	     13 - 0 = 13	139
Oakland          8	11	143	     13 - 0 = 13	138

The table above shows that if Houston wins 142 more games (148 total), then they will finish the season in first place in the division.

To see that Houston's first-place clinch number cannot be less than 142, consider the following scenario in which Houston wins 141 more games (147 total) but does not finish in first place:

Team             W	L	PCT	GB
Texas            148	14	0.914	0.00
Houston          147	15	0.907	1.00
Seattle          59	103	0.364	89.00
Los Angeles      59	103	0.364	89.00
Oakland          47	115	0.290	101.00

Tie breakers
Seattle wins the season series with Los Angeles 13 games to 0.

To construct the scenario, we start with the current standings in the division:
Team             W	L	GL	PCT	GB
Texas            11	9	142	0.550	0.0
Los Angeles      9	10	143	0.474	1.5
Seattle          9	10	143	0.474	1.5
Oakland          8	11	143	0.421	2.5
Houston          6	14	142	0.300	5.0

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


Houston currently has 0 wins against Los Angeles and 0 losses.
  Houston wins 13 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 0.
  Houston wins the series 13 games to 0

Houston currently has 0 wins against Oakland and 0 losses.
  Houston wins 13 additional games against Oakland and loses 0.
  Houston wins the series 13 games to 0

Houston currently has 0 wins against Seattle and 0 losses.
  Houston wins 13 additional games against Seattle and loses 0.
  Houston wins the series 13 games to 0

Houston currently has 4 wins against Texas and 3 losses.
  Houston wins 5 additional games against Texas and loses 1.
  Houston wins the series 9 games to 4

Los Angeles currently has 0 wins against Oakland and 0 losses.
  Los Angeles wins 13 additional games against Oakland and loses 0.
  Los Angeles wins the series 13 games to 0

Oakland currently has 0 wins against Seattle and 0 losses.
  Oakland wins 13 additional games against Seattle and loses 0.
  Oakland wins the series 13 games to 0

Seattle currently has 0 wins against Los Angeles and 0 losses.
  Seattle wins 13 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 0.
  Seattle wins the series 13 games to 0

Texas currently has 0 wins against Los Angeles and 0 losses.
  Texas wins 13 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 0.
  Texas wins the series 13 games to 0

Texas currently has 1 wins against Oakland and 2 losses.
  Texas wins 10 additional games against Oakland and loses 0.
  Texas wins the series 11 games to 2

Texas currently has 0 wins against Seattle and 0 losses.
  Texas wins 13 additional games against Seattle and loses 0.
  Texas wins the series 13 games to 0

Houston wins 97 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0.
Los Angeles wins 37 games agains teams outside the division and loses 54.
Oakland wins 26 games agains teams outside the division and loses 68.
Seattle wins 37 games agains teams outside the division and loses 54.
Texas wins 100 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0.

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