San Francisco Giants First-Place Clinch Scenario San Francisco's traditional magic number (relative to first-place Colorado) is 1 + 161 - 0 + 1 = 163. San Francisco's first-place clinch number is 155. San Francisco must win 155 more games (155 total) to clinch first place. If San Francisco 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 San Francisco 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 San Francisco' column gives the minimum number of games that each team will lose to San Francisco if San Francisco wins 155 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 Colorado 1 0 161 13 - 6 = 7 155 *See tie-breaking notes below. Los Angeles 1 0 161 13 - 6 = 7 155 *See tie-breaking notes below. Arizona 0 1 161 13 - 6 = 7 154 San Diego 0 1 161 13 - 6 = 7 154 Tie-breakers: San Francisco has won 0 game(s) against Colorado and lost 0. There are 13 games left in the series. In the scenario above, San Francisco wins 0 + 7 = 7 games against Colorado and loses 0 + 6 = 6. San Francisco has won 0 game(s) against Los Angeles and lost 0. There are 13 games left in the series. In the scenario above, San Francisco wins 0 + 7 = 7 games against Los Angeles and loses 0 + 6 = 6. The table above shows that if San Francisco wins 155 more games (155 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 155, consider the following scenario in which San Francisco wins 154 more games (154 total) but does not finish in first place: Team W L PCT GB Arizona 155 7 0.957 0.00 San Francisco 154 8 0.951 0.00 San Diego 135 27 0.833 19.00 Colorado 40 122 0.247 114.00 Los Angeles 31 131 0.191 123.00 To construct the scenario, we start with the current standings in the division: Team W L GL PCT GB Colorado 1 0 161 1.000 0.0 Los Angeles 1 0 161 1.000 0.0 Arizona 0 1 161 0.000 1.0 San Diego 0 1 161 0.000 1.0 San Francisco 0 1 161 0.000 1.0 Next, we show how the remaining series of games in the division play out in the scenario: Arizona currently has 0 wins against Colorado and 0 losses. Arizona wins 13 additional games against Colorado and loses 0. Arizona wins the series 13 games to 0 Arizona currently has 0 wins against Los Angeles and 1 losses. Arizona wins 12 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 0. Arizona wins the series 12 games to 1 Arizona currently has 0 wins against San Diego and 0 losses. Arizona wins 13 additional games against San Diego and loses 0. Arizona wins the series 13 games to 0 Arizona currently has 0 wins against San Francisco and 0 losses. Arizona wins 7 additional games against San Francisco and loses 6. Arizona wins the series 7 games to 6 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 San Diego currently has 0 wins against Colorado and 1 losses. San Diego wins 12 additional games against Colorado and loses 0. San Diego wins the series 12 games to 1 San Diego currently has 0 wins against Los Angeles and 0 losses. San Diego wins 13 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 0. San Diego wins the series 13 games to 0 San Francisco currently has 0 wins against Colorado and 0 losses. San Francisco wins 13 additional games against Colorado 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 110 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. Colorado wins 26 games agains teams outside the division and loses 84. Los Angeles wins 30 games agains teams outside the division and loses 80. San Diego wins 110 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. San Francisco 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. # San Francisco Giants' magic number # San Francisco's magic number # Giants' magic number # MLB Playoff Race