MAGIC NUMBERS - IT AIN'T MAGIC AND IT AIN'T ROCKET SCIENCE

Happy September 5th! 

OK, it's getting exciting.  

We are 80-60.  Only 22 games to go in Cleveland's regular season.

Cleveland is getting close to a playoff spot. 

So it's time to talk magic numbers (the total combined wins by Cleveland and losses by their competitor(s) that will clinch a playoff spot for Cleveland)

The great thing about blog postings is that I could delete this if it is wrong but I think my math is correct.  So here goes:

Magic # to clinch the 3rd wildcard playoff spot

This is calculated for us as 162 - our wins - our closest competitor's losses).  It would be 163 instead of 162 except if you won the season series you own the tiebreaker over a team meaning you only have to TIE your competitor, not have a better record than them (thus 162 instead of 163).  So, it looks like this:

Boston - Magic number 12

Seattle - Magic number 12

Magic # to win the AL Central

Although Minnesota and Kansas City are tied for 2nd place right now, KC holds the tiebreaker with us and we hold it over Minnesota.  So we use KC to determine the magic number, Still, because KC has played 141 games, Minnesota 139 and Cleveland 140, the numbers end up being the same.

Kansas City - 18

Minnesota - 18

Magic # To Clinch a 1st round bye

We won't even get into what it will take to clinch the overall #1 seed.  There is no reasonable magic # for that yet since Cleveland, Baltimore and NYY are all within a game of each other.  However, we can calculate it for the AL West leader, Houston.   The only catch is that the number below won't matter if we don't win the AL Central.   So, assuming we DO win the AL Central, here is the magic number to get the #2 seed in the AL playoffs:

Houston - 19

So, there you have it.  For the morning of September 5th, these are the correct magic numbers, as far as my calculations show.  So, if you see other magic #s they are wrong, unless, of course, I am wrong.

Have a great Thursday.