Minnesota Twins First-Place Clinch Scenario

Minnesota's traditional magic number (relative to first-place Detroit) is 15 + 137 - 9 + 1 = 144.
Minnesota's first-place clinch number is 136.
Minnesota must win 136 more games (145 total) to clinch first place.

If Minnesota wins 136 more games, their final win total will be at least 145.
The table below shows the best case scenario for each of the other teams if Minnesota wins 136 of their remaining 138 games and loses the other 2.
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 136 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
Detroit          15	10	137	      10 - 2 = 8	144
Cleveland        14	10	138	     13 - 2 = 11	141
Kansas City      10	14	138	       9 - 2 = 7	141
Chicago          5	19	138	       8 - 2 = 6	137

The table above shows that if Minnesota wins 136 more games (145 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 136, consider the following scenario in which Minnesota wins 135 more games (144 total) but does not finish in first place:

Team             W	L	PCT	GB
Detroit          145	17	0.895	0.00
Minnesota        144	18	0.889	1.00
Kansas City      84	78	0.519	61.00
Cleveland        83	79	0.512	62.00
Chicago          67	95	0.414	78.00

To construct the scenario, we start with the current standings in the division:
Team             W	L	GL	PCT	GB
Detroit          15	10	137	0.600	0.0
Cleveland        14	10	138	0.583	0.5
Kansas City      10	14	138	0.417	4.5
Minnesota        9	15	138	0.375	5.5
Chicago          5	19	138	0.208	9.5

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


Chicago currently has 0 wins against Kansas City and 0 losses.
  Chicago wins 9 additional games against Kansas City and loses 4.
  Chicago wins the series 9 games to 4

Cleveland currently has 3 wins against Chicago and 0 losses.
  Cleveland wins 10 additional games against Chicago and loses 0.
  Cleveland wins the series 13 games to 0

Cleveland currently has 4 wins against Kansas City and 2 losses.
  Cleveland wins 7 additional games against Kansas City and loses 0.
  Cleveland wins the series 11 games to 2

Detroit currently has 3 wins against Chicago and 0 losses.
  Detroit wins 10 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 13 additional games against Cleveland and loses 0.
  Detroit wins the series 13 games to 0

Detroit currently has 3 wins against Kansas City and 1 losses.
  Detroit wins 9 additional games against Kansas City and loses 0.
  Detroit wins the series 12 games to 1

Minnesota currently has 4 wins against Chicago and 1 losses.
  Minnesota wins 8 additional games against Chicago and loses 0.
  Minnesota wins the series 12 games to 1

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 1 wins against Detroit and 2 losses.
  Minnesota wins 7 additional games against Detroit and loses 3.
  Minnesota wins the series 8 games to 5

Minnesota currently has 1 wins against Kansas City and 3 losses.
  Minnesota wins 9 additional games against Kansas City and loses 0.
  Minnesota wins the series 10 games to 3

Chicago wins 53 games agains teams outside the division and loses 44.
Cleveland wins 52 games agains teams outside the division and loses 43.
Detroit wins 95 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0.
Kansas City wins 70 games agains teams outside the division and loses 30.
Minnesota wins 98 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