Seattle Mariners First-Place Clinch Scenario

Seattle's traditional magic number (relative to first-place Texas) is 14 + 138 - 13 + 1 = 140.
Seattle's first-place clinch number is 134.
Seattle must win 134 more games (147 total) to clinch first place.

If Seattle wins 134 more games, their final win total will be at least 147.
The table below shows the best case scenario for each of the other teams if Seattle wins 134 of their remaining 138 games and loses the other 4.
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 Seattle' column gives the
minimum number of games that each team will lose to Seattle if Seattle wins 134 more games. Assuming that a team wins all of its remaining games except for
the games it loses to Seattle, the resulting maximum number of wins is shown in the 'Maximum W' column.

Team             W	L	GL	Losses to Seattle	Maximum W
Texas            14	10	138	      10 - 4 = 6	146
Houston          13	11	138	      10 - 4 = 6	145
Oakland          11	13	138	       9 - 4 = 5	144
Los Angeles      11	12	139	      13 - 4 = 9	141

The table above shows that if Seattle wins 134 more games (147 total), then they will finish the season in first place in the division.

To see that Seattle's first-place clinch number cannot be less than 134, consider the following scenario in which Seattle wins 133 more games (146 total) but does not finish in first place:

Team             W	L	PCT	GB
Texas            147	15	0.907	0.00
Seattle          146	16	0.901	1.00
Los Angeles      91	71	0.562	56.00
Houston          90	72	0.556	57.00
Oakland          67	95	0.414	80.00

To construct the scenario, we start with the current standings in the division:
Team             W	L	GL	PCT	GB
Texas            14	10	138	0.583	0.0
Houston          13	11	138	0.542	1.0
Seattle          13	11	138	0.542	1.0
Los Angeles      11	12	139	0.478	2.5
Oakland          11	13	138	0.458	3.0

Next, we show how the remaining series of games in the division play out in the scenario:


Houston currently has 0 wins against Oakland and 0 losses.
  Houston wins 13 additional games against Oakland and loses 0.
  Houston wins the series 13 games to 0

Los Angeles currently has 1 wins against Houston and 2 losses.
  Los Angeles wins 6 additional games against Houston and loses 4.
  Los Angeles wins the series 7 games to 6

Los Angeles currently has 0 wins against Oakland and 0 losses.
  Los Angeles wins 13 additional games against Oakland and loses 0.
  Los Angeles wins the series 13 games to 0

Seattle currently has 2 wins against Houston and 1 losses.
  Seattle wins 10 additional games against Houston and loses 0.
  Seattle wins the series 12 games to 1

Seattle currently has 0 wins against Los Angeles and 0 losses.
  Seattle wins 13 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 0.
  Seattle wins the series 13 games to 0

Seattle currently has 2 wins against Oakland and 2 losses.
  Seattle wins 9 additional games against Oakland and loses 0.
  Seattle wins the series 11 games to 2

Seattle currently has 3 wins against Texas and 0 losses.
  Seattle wins 5 additional games against Texas and loses 5.
  Seattle wins the series 8 games to 5

Texas currently has 0 wins against Houston and 0 losses.
  Texas wins 13 additional games against Houston and loses 0.
  Texas wins the series 13 games to 0

Texas currently has 3 wins against Los Angeles and 0 losses.
  Texas wins 10 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 0.
  Texas wins the series 13 games to 0

Texas currently has 1 wins against Oakland and 1 losses.
  Texas wins 11 additional games against Oakland and loses 0.
  Texas wins the series 12 games to 1

Houston wins 60 games agains teams outside the division and loses 32.
Los Angeles wins 61 games agains teams outside the division and loses 32.
Oakland wins 56 games agains teams outside the division and loses 36.
Seattle wins 96 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0.
Texas wins 94 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.
# Seattle Mariners' magic number
# Seattle's magic number
# Mariners' magic number
# MLB Playoff Race