Seattle Mariners First-Place Clinch Scenario Seattle's traditional magic number (relative to second-place Houston) is 0 + 162 - 0 + 1 = 163. Seattle's first-place clinch number is 156. Seattle must win 156 more games (156 total) to clinch first place. If Seattle 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 Seattle 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 Seattle' column gives the minimum number of games that each team will lose to Seattle if Seattle wins 156 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 Houston 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 Los Angeles 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 Oakland 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 Texas 0 0 162 13 - 6 = 7 155 The table above shows that if Seattle wins 156 more games (156 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 156, consider the following scenario in which Seattle wins 155 more games (155 total) but does not finish in first place: Team W L PCT GB Houston 156 6 0.963 0.00 Seattle 155 7 0.957 0.00 Los Angeles 79 83 0.488 76.00 Texas 77 85 0.475 78.00 Oakland 58 104 0.358 97.00 To construct the scenario, we start with the current standings in the division: Team W L GL PCT GB Houston 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Los Angeles 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Oakland 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Seattle 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Texas 0 0 162 0.000 0.0 Next, we show how the remaining series of games in the division play out in the scenario: Houston currently has 0 wins against Los Angeles and 0 losses. Houston wins 13 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 0. Houston wins the series 13 games to 0 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 Houston currently has 0 wins against Seattle and 0 losses. Houston wins 7 additional games against Seattle and loses 6. Houston wins the series 7 games to 6 Houston currently has 0 wins against Texas and 0 losses. Houston wins 13 additional games against Texas and loses 0. Houston wins the series 13 games to 0 Oakland currently has 0 wins against Los Angeles and 0 losses. Oakland wins 13 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 0. Oakland wins the series 13 games to 0 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 0 wins against Oakland and 0 losses. Seattle wins 13 additional games against Oakland and loses 0. Seattle wins the series 13 games to 0 Seattle currently has 0 wins against Texas and 0 losses. Seattle wins 13 additional games against Texas and loses 0. Seattle wins the series 13 games to 0 Texas currently has 0 wins against Los Angeles and 0 losses. Texas wins 13 additional games against Los Angeles and loses 0. Texas wins the series 13 games to 0 Texas currently has 0 wins against Oakland and 0 losses. Texas wins 13 additional games against Oakland and loses 0. Texas wins the series 13 games to 0 Houston wins 110 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. Los Angeles wins 79 games agains teams outside the division and loses 31. Oakland wins 45 games agains teams outside the division and loses 65. Seattle wins 110 games agains teams outside the division and loses 0. Texas wins 51 games agains teams outside the division and loses 59. 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