Philadelphia Phillies First-Place Clinch Scenario Philadelphia's traditional magic number (relative to first-place Atlanta) is 1 + 161 - 0 + 1 = 163. Philadelphia's first-place clinch number is 155. Philadelphia must win 155 more games (155 total) to clinch first place. If Philadelphia wins 155 more games, their final win total will be at least 155. The table below shows the best case scenario for each of the other teams if Philadelphia wins 155 of their remaining 161 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 Philadelphia' column gives the minimum number of games that each team will lose to Philadelphia if Philadelphia wins 155 more games. Assuming that a team wins all of its remaining games except for the games it loses to Philadelphia, the resulting maximum number of wins is shown in the 'Maximum W' column. Team W L GL Losses to Philadelphia Maximum W Atlanta 1 0 161 13 - 6 = 7 155 *See tie-breaking notes below. New York 1 0 161 13 - 6 = 7 155 *See tie-breaking notes below. Miami 0 1 161 13 - 6 = 7 154 Washington 0 1 161 13 - 6 = 7 154 Tie-breakers: Philadelphia has won 0 game(s) against Atlanta and lost 0. There are 13 games left in the series. In the scenario above, Philadelphia wins 0 + 7 = 7 games against Atlanta and loses 0 + 6 = 6. Philadelphia has won 0 game(s) against New York and lost 0. There are 13 games left in the series. In the scenario above, Philadelphia wins 0 + 7 = 7 games against New York and loses 0 + 6 = 6. The table above shows that if Philadelphia wins 155 more games (155 total), then they will finish the season in first place in the division. To see that Philadelphia's first-place clinch number cannot be less than 155, consider the following scenario in which Philadelphia wins 154 more games (154 total) but does not finish in first place: Team W L PCT GB New York 155 7 0.957 0.00 Philadelphia 154 8 0.951 0.00 Washington 79 83 0.488 75.00 Miami 44 118 0.272 110.00 Atlanta 10 152 0.062 144.00 To construct the scenario, we start with the current standings in the division: Team W L GL PCT GB Atlanta 1 0 161 1.000 0.0 New York 1 0 161 1.000 0.0 Miami 0 1 161 0.000 1.0 Philadelphia 0 1 161 0.000 1.0 Washington 0 1 161 0.000 1.0 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 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 1 wins against Miami and 0 losses. New York wins 12 additional games against Miami and loses 0. New York wins the series 13 games to 0 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 Philadelphia currently has 0 wins against Miami and 0 losses. Philadelphia wins 13 additional games against Miami and loses 0. Philadelphia wins the series 13 games to 0 Philadelphia currently has 0 wins against New York and 0 losses. Philadelphia wins 7 additional games against New York and loses 6. Philadelphia wins the series 7 games to 6 Philadelphia currently has 0 wins against Washington and 0 losses. Philadelphia wins 13 additional games against Washington and loses 0. Philadelphia wins the series 13 games to 0 Washington currently has 0 wins against Atlanta and 1 losses. Washington wins 12 additional games against Atlanta and loses 0. Washington wins the series 12 games to 1 Washington currently has 0 wins against Miami and 0 losses. Washington wins 13 additional games against Miami and loses 0. Washington wins the series 13 games to 0 Atlanta wins 9 games agains teams outside the division and loses 101. Miami wins 31 games agains teams outside the division and loses 79. New York wins 110 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. Philadelphia wins 108 games agains teams outside the division and loses 1. Washington wins 54 games agains teams outside the division and loses 56. Combining the current standings with the wins and losses from the scenario results in the final standings listed above. # Philadelphia Phillies' magic number # Philadelphia's magic number # Phillies' magic number # MLB Playoff Race