San Francisco Giants First-Place Clinch Scenario San Francisco's traditional magic number (relative to first-place Los Angeles) is 1 + 160 - 0 + 1 = 162. San Francisco's first-place clinch number is 156. San Francisco must win 156 more games (156 total) to clinch first place. If San Francisco 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 San Francisco 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 San Francisco' column gives the minimum number of games that each team will lose to San Francisco if San Francisco wins 156 more games. Assuming that a team wins all of its remaining games except for the games it loses to SanFrancisco, the resulting maximum number of wins is shown in the 'Maximum W' column. Team W L GL Losses to San Francisco Maximum W Arizona 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 Colorado 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 Los Angeles 1 1 160 13 - 6 = 7 154 San Diego 1 1 160 13 - 6 = 7 154 The table above shows that if San Francisco wins 156 more games (156 total), then they will finish the season in first place in the division. To see that San Francisco's first-place clinch number cannot be less than 156, consider the following scenario in which San Francisco wins 155 more games (155 total) but does not finish in first place: Team W L PCT GB Colorado 156 6 0.963 0.00 San Francisco 155 7 0.957 1.00 Arizona 106 56 0.654 50.00 Los Angeles 60 102 0.370 96.00 San Diego 56 106 0.346 100.00 To construct the scenario, we start with the current standings in the division: Team W L GL PCT GB Los Angeles 1 1 160 0.500 0.0 San Diego 1 1 160 0.500 0.0 Arizona 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Colorado 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 San Francisco 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Next, we show how the remaining series of games in the division play out in the scenario: Arizona currently has 0 wins against Los Angeles and 0 losses. Arizona wins 13 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 0. Arizona wins the series 13 games to 0 Arizona currently has 0 wins against San Diego and 0 losses. Arizona wins 8 additional games against San Diego and loses 5. Arizona wins the series 8 games to 5 Colorado currently has 0 wins against Arizona and 0 losses. Colorado wins 13 additional games against Arizona and loses 0. Colorado wins the series 13 games to 0 Colorado currently has 0 wins against Los Angeles and 0 losses. Colorado wins 13 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 0. Colorado wins the series 13 games to 0 Colorado currently has 0 wins against San Diego and 0 losses. Colorado wins 13 additional games against San Diego and loses 0. Colorado wins the series 13 games to 0 Colorado currently has 0 wins against San Francisco and 0 losses. Colorado wins 7 additional games against San Francisco and loses 6. Colorado wins the series 7 games to 6 San Diego currently has 1 wins against Los Angeles and 1 losses. San Diego wins 11 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 0. San Diego wins the series 12 games to 1 San Francisco currently has 0 wins against Arizona and 0 losses. San Francisco wins 13 additional games against Arizona and loses 0. San Francisco wins the series 13 games to 0 San Francisco currently has 0 wins against Los Angeles and 0 losses. San Francisco wins 13 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 0. San Francisco wins the series 13 games to 0 San Francisco currently has 0 wins against San Diego and 0 losses. San Francisco wins 13 additional games against San Diego and loses 0. San Francisco wins the series 13 games to 0 Arizona wins 85 games agains teams outside the division and loses 25. Colorado wins 110 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. Los Angeles wins 59 games agains teams outside the division and loses 51. San Diego wins 39 games agains teams outside the division and loses 71. San Francisco wins 110 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. # San Francisco Giants' magic number # San Francisco's magic number # Giants' magic number # MLB Playoff Race