Miami Marlins First-Place Clinch Scenario Miami's traditional magic number (relative to second-place Atlanta) is 0 + 162 - 0 + 1 = 163. Miami's first-place clinch number is 156. Miami must win 156 more games (156 total) to clinch first place. If Miami 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 Miami 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 Miami' column gives the minimum number of games that each team will lose to Miami if Miami wins 156 more games. Assuming that a team wins all of its remaining games except for the games it loses to Miami, the resulting maximum number of wins is shown in the 'Maximum W' column. Team W L GL Losses to Miami Maximum W Atlanta 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 New York 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 Philadelphia 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 Washington 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 The table above shows that if Miami wins 156 more games (156 total), then they will finish the season in first place in the division. To see that Miami's first-place clinch number cannot be less than 156, consider the following scenario in which Miami wins 155 more games (155 total) but does not finish in first place: Team W L PCT GB New York 155 7 0.957 0.00 Miami 155 7 0.957 0.00 Washington 90 72 0.556 65.00 Philadelphia 43 119 0.265 112.00 Atlanta 12 150 0.074 143.00 Tie breakers New York wins the season series with Miami 7 games to 6. To construct the scenario, we start with the current standings in the division: Team W L GL PCT GB Atlanta 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Miami 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 New York 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Philadelphia 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Washington 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Next, we show how the remaining series of games in the division play out in the scenario: Miami currently has 0 wins against Atlanta and 0 losses. Miami wins 13 additional games against Atlanta and loses 0. Miami wins the series 13 games to 0 Miami currently has 0 wins against Philadelphia and 0 losses. Miami wins 13 additional games against Philadelphia and loses 0. Miami wins the series 13 games to 0 Miami currently has 0 wins against Washington and 0 losses. Miami wins 13 additional games against Washington and loses 0. Miami wins the series 13 games to 0 New York currently has 0 wins against Atlanta and 0 losses. New York wins 13 additional games against Atlanta and loses 0. New York wins the series 13 games to 0 New York currently has 0 wins against Miami and 0 losses. New York wins 7 additional games against Miami and loses 6. New York wins the series 7 games to 6 New York currently has 0 wins against Philadelphia and 0 losses. New York wins 12 additional games against Philadelphia and loses 1. New York wins the series 12 games to 1 New York currently has 0 wins against Washington and 0 losses. New York wins 13 additional games against Washington and loses 0. New York wins the series 13 games to 0 Philadelphia currently has 0 wins against Atlanta and 0 losses. Philadelphia wins 13 additional games against Atlanta and loses 0. Philadelphia wins the series 13 games to 0 Washington currently has 0 wins against Atlanta and 0 losses. Washington wins 13 additional games against Atlanta and loses 0. Washington wins the series 13 games to 0 Washington currently has 0 wins against Philadelphia and 0 losses. Washington wins 13 additional games against Philadelphia and loses 0. Washington wins the series 13 games to 0 Atlanta wins 12 games agains teams outside the division and loses 98. Miami wins 110 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. New York wins 110 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. Philadelphia wins 29 games agains teams outside the division and loses 81. Washington wins 64 games agains teams outside the division and loses 46. Combining the current standings with the wins and losses from the scenario results in the final standings listed above. # Miami Marlins' magic number # Miami's magic number # Marlins' magic number # MLB Playoff Race