The MLB season is long, winding and grueling. It requires a team to jell together in the clubhouse and perform well on the diamond. It often means that a team will have to rally around an injured teammate, adjust to a new lineup or rotation after a trade, or help a young rookie find his place.
The bottom line is this: Winning baseball games is not easy. Even with an expanded playoff field, getting into the postseason is nothing to scoff at.
And every year around late summer, toward the end of the dog days of August, baseball fans are glued to the standings and focused on their team's "magic number."
Definition of Magic Number
Essentially, the "magic number" is a way to count how close a team is to clinching a playoff berth or a division title.
A team's magic number represents the combination of wins needed by that team and losses by its closest competitor to clinch a given goal. Every time a team wins, its magic number decreases by one. Similarly, every time that team's closest competitor for the division (or Wild Card) loses, the magic number also decreases by one.
If, for example, the New York Yankees had a magic number of 10, every time the Yankees win (or the team in second place loses), that number would decrease by one. Once it hits zero, the Yankees will have clinched the American League East.
Calculating the Magic Number
The formula for calculating a team's magic number is simple.
Games remaining +1 - (losses by second place team - losses by first place team)
If a team in third place were to climb the standings and hit second place, a new magic number would need to be calculated. The formula always uses the first and second place teams in the standings.
Historical Context
The first known usage of magic number came in a 1947 edition of the Washington Post, referring to the pennant race between the Yankees and Red Sox.
"The Yankees reduced the magic number to four," it read. "That is the combination of games the Yankees must win or the Red Sox must lose in order to insure the flag for the Yankees."
Importance of the Magic Number in MLB
In short, the debut of the magic number each season signals the start of crunch time for MLB teams. Hoping to capitalize on excitement, many teams will actually advertise "clinch week" tickets to fans. After all, it's fun to watch the team party and celebrate after a hard-fought season.
Once a team has clinched a postseason berth, it's pretty common to see stars get extra rest for the playoff push. Of course, there are varying schools of thought on this, with some suggesting that a team will squander all its momentum by resting players and losing games down the stretch.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as What is a Team's Magic Number? Explaining How Playoff Berths are Tracked.