Oakland Athletics First-Place Clinch Scenario Oakland's traditional magic number (relative to second-place Houston) is 0 + 162 - 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 Houston 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 Los Angeles 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 Seattle 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 Texas 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 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 Houston 75 87 0.463 80.00 Los Angeles 75 87 0.463 80.00 Seattle 52 110 0.321 103.00 Tie breakers Texas wins the season series with Oakland 7 games to 6. Houston 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 Houston 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Los Angeles 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Oakland 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Seattle 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Texas 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 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 Seattle and 0 losses. Houston wins 9 additional games against Seattle and loses 4. Houston 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 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 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 53 games agains teams outside the division and loses 57. Los Angeles wins 75 games agains teams outside the division and loses 35. Oakland wins 110 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. Seattle wins 35 games agains teams outside the division and loses 75. Texas wins 109 games agains teams outside the division and loses 1. 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