Philadelphia Phillies First-Place Clinch Scenario Philadelphia's traditional magic number (relative to second-place New York) is 30 + 111 - 33 + 1 = 109. Philadelphia's first-place clinch number is 105. Philadelphia must win 105 more games (138 total) to clinch first place. If Philadelphia wins 105 more games, their final win total will be at least 138. The table below shows the best case scenario for each of the other teams if Philadelphia wins 105 of their remaining 111 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 105 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 New York 30 21 111 10 - 6 = 4 137 Washington 23 28 111 7 - 6 = 1 133 Atlanta 24 26 112 10 - 6 = 4 132 Miami 19 30 113 10 - 6 = 4 128 The table above shows that if Philadelphia wins 105 more games (138 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 105, consider the following scenario in which Philadelphia wins 104 more games (137 total) but does not finish in first place: Team W L PCT GB New York 137 25 0.846 0.00 Philadelphia 137 25 0.846 0.00 Atlanta 93 69 0.574 44.00 Miami 67 95 0.414 70.00 Washington 55 107 0.340 82.00 Tie breakers New York wins the season series with Philadelphia 10 games to 3. To construct the scenario, we start with the current standings in the division: Team W L GL PCT GB Philadelphia 33 18 111 0.647 0.0 New York 30 21 111 0.588 3.0 Atlanta 24 26 112 0.480 8.5 Washington 23 28 111 0.451 10.0 Miami 19 30 113 0.388 13.0 Next, we show how the remaining series of games in the division play out in the scenario: Atlanta currently has 1 wins against Miami and 1 losses. Atlanta wins 11 additional games against Miami and loses 0. Atlanta wins the series 12 games to 1 Atlanta currently has 3 wins against Washington and 3 losses. Atlanta wins 7 additional games against Washington and loses 0. Atlanta wins the series 10 games to 3 Miami currently has 2 wins against Washington and 1 losses. Miami wins 6 additional games against Washington and loses 4. Miami wins the series 8 games to 5 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 4 wins against Miami and 2 losses. New York wins 7 additional games against Miami and loses 0. New York wins the series 11 games to 2 New York currently has 3 wins against Philadelphia and 0 losses. New York wins 7 additional games against Philadelphia and loses 3. New York wins the series 10 games to 3 New York currently has 2 wins against Washington and 2 losses. New York wins 9 additional games against Washington and loses 0. New York wins the series 11 games to 2 Philadelphia currently has 1 wins against Atlanta and 2 losses. Philadelphia wins 10 additional games against Atlanta and loses 0. Philadelphia wins the series 11 games to 2 Philadelphia currently has 2 wins against Miami and 1 losses. Philadelphia wins 10 additional games against Miami and loses 0. Philadelphia wins the series 12 games to 1 Philadelphia currently has 4 wins against Washington and 2 losses. Philadelphia wins 7 additional games against Washington and loses 0. Philadelphia wins the series 11 games to 2 Atlanta wins 51 games agains teams outside the division and loses 20. Miami wins 42 games agains teams outside the division and loses 33. New York wins 71 games agains teams outside the division and loses 1. Philadelphia wins 74 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. Washington wins 28 games agains teams outside the division and loses 50. 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