San Francisco Giants First-Place Clinch Scenario San Francisco's traditional magic number (relative to first-place Los Angeles) is 55 + 75 - 46 + 1 = 85. San Francisco's first-place clinch number is 75. San Francisco must win 75 more games (121 total) to clinch first place. If San Francisco wins 75 more games, their final win total will be at least 121. The table below shows the best case scenario for each of the other teams if San Francisco wins all 75 of their remaining games. 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 75 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 Los Angeles 55 32 75 10 - 0 = 10 120 San Diego 46 40 76 7 - 0 = 7 115 Arizona 43 43 76 7 - 0 = 7 112 Colorado 19 67 76 6 - 0 = 6 89 The table above shows that if San Francisco wins 75 more games (121 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 75, consider the following scenario in which San Francisco wins 74 more games (120 total) but does not finish in first place: Team W L PCT GB Los Angeles 121 41 0.747 0.00 San Francisco 120 42 0.741 1.00 San Diego 97 65 0.599 24.00 Arizona 94 68 0.580 27.00 Colorado 72 90 0.444 49.00 To construct the scenario, we start with the current standings in the division: Team W L GL PCT GB Los Angeles 55 32 75 0.632 0.0 San Diego 46 40 76 0.535 8.5 San Francisco 46 41 75 0.529 9.0 Arizona 43 43 76 0.500 11.5 Colorado 19 67 76 0.221 35.5 Next, we show how the remaining series of games in the division play out in the scenario: Arizona currently has 4 wins against Colorado and 2 losses. Arizona wins 7 additional games against Colorado and loses 0. Arizona wins the series 11 games to 2 Colorado currently has 1 wins against San Diego and 5 losses. Colorado wins 6 additional games against San Diego and loses 1. Colorado wins the series 7 games to 6 Los Angeles currently has 4 wins against Arizona and 3 losses. Los Angeles wins 6 additional games against Arizona and loses 0. Los Angeles wins the series 10 games to 3 Los Angeles currently has 6 wins against Colorado and 0 losses. Los Angeles wins 7 additional games against Colorado and loses 0. Los Angeles wins the series 13 games to 0 Los Angeles currently has 5 wins against San Diego and 2 losses. Los Angeles wins 6 additional games against San Diego and loses 0. Los Angeles wins the series 11 games to 2 San Diego currently has 1 wins against Arizona and 2 losses. San Diego wins 9 additional games against Arizona and loses 1. San Diego wins the series 10 games to 3 San Francisco currently has 2 wins against Arizona and 4 losses. San Francisco wins 7 additional games against Arizona and loses 0. San Francisco wins the series 9 games to 4 San Francisco currently has 5 wins against Colorado and 2 losses. San Francisco wins 6 additional games against Colorado and loses 0. San Francisco wins the series 11 games to 2 San Francisco currently has 1 wins against Los Angeles and 2 losses. San Francisco wins 9 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 1. San Francisco wins the series 10 games to 3 San Francisco currently has 2 wins against San Diego and 4 losses. San Francisco wins 7 additional games against San Diego and loses 0. San Francisco wins the series 9 games to 4 Arizona wins 43 games agains teams outside the division and loses 3. Colorado wins 47 games agains teams outside the division and loses 2. Los Angeles wins 46 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. San Diego wins 41 games agains teams outside the division and loses 5. San Francisco wins 45 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