Minnesota Twins First-Place Clinch Scenario

Minnesota's traditional magic number (relative to first-place Cleveland) is 12 + 144 - 6 + 1 = 151.
Minnesota's first-place clinch number is 142.
Minnesota must win 142 more games (148 total) to clinch first place.

If Minnesota 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 Minnesota wins 142 of their remaining 145 games and loses the other 3.
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 Minnesota' column gives the
minimum number of games that each team will lose to Minnesota if Minnesota wins 142 more games. Assuming that a team wins all of its remaining games except for
the games it loses to Minnesota, the resulting maximum number of wins is shown in the 'Maximum W' column.

Team             W	L	GL	Losses to Minnesota	Maximum W
Cleveland        12	6	144	      11 - 3 = 8	148 *See tie-breaking notes below.
Detroit          10	8	144	       9 - 3 = 6	148 *See tie-breaking notes below.
Kansas City      12	7	143	      10 - 3 = 7	148 *See tie-breaking notes below.
Chicago          3	15	144	     13 - 3 = 10	137

Tie-breakers:
Minnesota has won 0 game(s) against Cleveland and lost 2.
There are 11 games left in the series.
In the scenario above, Minnesota wins 0 + 8 = 8 games against Cleveland and loses 2 + 3 = 5.
Minnesota has won 2 game(s) against Detroit and lost 2.
There are 9 games left in the series.
In the scenario above, Minnesota wins 2 + 6 = 8 games against Detroit and loses 2 + 3 = 5.
Minnesota has won 2 game(s) against Kansas City and lost 1.
There are 10 games left in the series.
In the scenario above, Minnesota wins 2 + 7 = 9 games against Kansas City and loses 1 + 3 = 4.

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

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

Team             W	L	PCT	GB
Kansas City      148	14	0.914	0.00
Minnesota        147	15	0.907	1.00
Cleveland        94	68	0.580	54.00
Detroit          86	76	0.531	62.00
Chicago          63	99	0.389	85.00

To construct the scenario, we start with the current standings in the division:
Team             W	L	GL	PCT	GB
Cleveland        12	6	144	0.667	0.0
Kansas City      12	7	143	0.632	0.5
Detroit          10	8	144	0.556	2.0
Minnesota        6	11	145	0.353	5.5
Chicago          3	15	144	0.167	9.0

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 3 losses.
  Chicago wins 10 additional games against Detroit and loses 0.
  Chicago wins the series 10 games to 3

Cleveland currently has 2 wins against Chicago and 1 losses.
  Cleveland wins 8 additional games against Chicago and loses 2.
  Cleveland wins the series 10 games to 3

Cleveland currently has 0 wins against Detroit and 0 losses.
  Cleveland wins 11 additional games against Detroit and loses 2.
  Cleveland wins the series 11 games to 2

Kansas City currently has 6 wins against Chicago and 1 losses.
  Kansas City wins 6 additional games against Chicago and loses 0.
  Kansas City wins the series 12 games to 1

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

Kansas City currently has 0 wins against Detroit and 0 losses.
  Kansas City wins 13 additional games against Detroit and loses 0.
  Kansas City wins the series 13 games to 0

Minnesota currently has 0 wins against Chicago and 0 losses.
  Minnesota wins 12 additional games against Chicago and loses 1.
  Minnesota wins the series 12 games to 1

Minnesota currently has 0 wins against Cleveland and 2 losses.
  Minnesota wins 11 additional games against Cleveland and loses 0.
  Minnesota wins the series 11 games to 2

Minnesota currently has 2 wins against Detroit and 2 losses.
  Minnesota wins 9 additional games against Detroit and loses 0.
  Minnesota wins the series 11 games to 2

Minnesota currently has 2 wins against Kansas City and 1 losses.
  Minnesota wins 7 additional games against Kansas City and loses 3.
  Minnesota wins the series 9 games to 4

Chicago wins 47 games agains teams outside the division and loses 58.
Cleveland wins 63 games agains teams outside the division and loses 34.
Detroit wins 74 games agains teams outside the division and loses 25.
Kansas City wins 101 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0.
Minnesota wins 102 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.
# Minnesota Twins' magic number
# Minnesota's magic number
# Twins' magic number
# MLB Playoff Race