Oakland Athletics First-Place Clinch Scenario

Oakland's traditional magic number (relative to first-place Los Angeles) is 1 + 161 - 0 + 1 = 163.
Oakland's first-place clinch number is 156.
Oakland must win 156 more games (156 total) to clinch first place.

If Oakland 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 Oakland 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 Oakland' column gives the
minimum number of games that each team will lose to Oakland if Oakland wins 156 more games. Assuming that a team wins all of its remaining games except for
the games it loses to Oakland, the resulting maximum number of wins is shown in the 'Maximum W' column.

Team             W	L	GL	Losses to Oakland	Maximum W
Los Angeles      1	0	161	      13 - 6 = 7	155
Houston          0	1	161	      13 - 6 = 7	154
Seattle          0	1	161	      13 - 6 = 7	154
Texas            0	1	161	      13 - 6 = 7	154

The table above shows that if Oakland wins 156 more games (156 total), then they will finish the season in first place in the division.

To see that Oakland's first-place clinch number cannot be less than 156, consider the following scenario in which Oakland wins 155 more games (155 total) but does not finish in first place:

Team             W	L	PCT	GB
Texas            155	7	0.957	0.00
Oakland          155	7	0.957	0.00
Seattle          49	113	0.302	106.00
Houston          48	114	0.296	107.00
Los Angeles      47	115	0.290	108.00

Tie breakers
Texas wins the season series with Oakland 7 games to 6.

To construct the scenario, we start with the current standings in the division:
Team             W	L	GL	PCT	GB
Los Angeles      1	0	161	1.000	0.0
Houston          0	1	161	0.000	1.0
Oakland          0	0	162	0.000	0.5
Seattle          0	1	161	0.000	1.0
Texas            0	1	161	0.000	1.0

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


Houston currently has 0 wins against Seattle and 0 losses.
  Houston wins 9 additional games against Seattle and loses 4.
  Houston wins the series 9 games to 4

Los Angeles currently has 1 wins against Houston and 0 losses.
  Los Angeles wins 12 additional games against Houston and loses 0.
  Los Angeles wins the series 13 games to 0

Los Angeles currently has 0 wins against Seattle and 0 losses.
  Los Angeles wins 9 additional games against Seattle and loses 4.
  Los Angeles wins the series 9 games to 4

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

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

Texas currently has 0 wins against Houston and 0 losses.
  Texas wins 13 additional games against Houston and loses 0.
  Texas 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 0 wins against Oakland and 0 losses.
  Texas wins 7 additional games against Oakland and loses 6.
  Texas wins the series 7 games to 6

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 39 games agains teams outside the division and loses 71.
Los Angeles wins 25 games agains teams outside the division and loses 85.
Oakland wins 110 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0.
Seattle wins 41 games agains teams outside the division and loses 68.
Texas wins 109 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.
# Oakland Athletics' magic number
# Oakland's magic number
# Athletics' magic number
# MLB Playoff Race