It's the same for a playoff spot because it's not head-to-head with one team. If Minnesota goes 0-11, it doesn't get the Astros in the playoffs. His version of a magic number is Astros wins only.
A Magic Number is determined by subtracting Astros wins, and the team they are trying to finish ahead of's losses, from 163 (162 games + 1 game to be ahead of the other team) So...right now the Astros are 80-71 and the Twins are 76-73. 163-80-73 = 10 Magic Number to be ahead of Twins (who are in 3rd place of WC) is 10. Conversely, the magic number to finish ahead of the Angels is now 9. Indians is at 9. Orioles is at 7. Mariners is at 6. etc... Since the Twins one is the highest magic number, that is the one you use to determine the 2nd WC spot. (for now) So while the Twins can go 0-11 to end the season, that would only mean that the Astros will be guaranteed to finish ahead of the Twins, but then you have to take in account what the Angels/Indians/Orioles magic numbers would be. To make it simple, since the MN is at 10, that would also mean that if the Astros win 10 of their last 11 games, it doesn't matter what anybody else does, they will get in the playoffs. Since the MN to win the AL West is 14, however; The Astros would need to win all of their 11 games and need 3 TEX losses (which would happen since the Astros play them 3 times)
Major was correct in his response. The Astros do not have a magic number of 11 to get into the playoffs which is what one of the posters wrote. They only have a magic number of 11 to finish ahead of the Twins which means the Angels could still sneak in.
You are right, but because the Twins MN is the highest left for the Astros against any other team for the 2nd WC spot, it is also the MN to get to the playoffs at least for now. In short, now that it is at 10, it will never get over 10. The Twins might ultimately be the team to beat out at the end, but the MN will never again be over 10.
Trying to clear things up... 11 games left in the season. The Astros Magic Number (to end up ahead of each team) against all WC teams behind them: Twins - 10 Angels - 9 Indinas - 9 Orioles - 7 Mariners - 6 Red Sox - 6 Rays - 5 Tigers - 2 Athletics - N/A (meaning Astros could lose out and A's could win out and the Astros would still be ahead of the A's) Perhaps this would be the easiest way to show everyone what needs to happen for Astros to just get 2nd WC spot?
Except it isn't, because 11 doesn't get you into the playoffs, unless they are Astros wins. All it does it get you ahead of Minnesota. That said, technically, this whole thread has been nonsense because the magic number being calculated was specifically against the Rangers rather than actually for winning the AL West. MN's work much better close to the end of the season when there are legitimately only 2 teams in a race.
It all depends on the team immediately behind the Astros and how many losses they have. Yes, the Twins might fall farther down, and the Angels or Indians would be immediately behind the Astros instead, but the MN wouldn't go up or whatever
Certainly - but if the team behind is always changing, then the definition of a magic number changes. When people think of MN's, they think of good guy wins + bad guys losses. In this case, that's not true. Minnesota losing doesn't necessarily drop the magic number.
Right now, I'd take the "playoffs", just so history couldn't say a Houston team didn't make the "playoffs" after leading their division so long. #choke
If they don't make the playoffs, no one outside of Texas will even remember they 'choked' after a couple of years (if that long).
Two things from today. 1. the Rangers won and are now FOUR games ahead. Even if the Astros sweep them they will still be down a game, and a 2-1 series win wouldn't do much for the division, as they'd still be 3 back. 2. Because the Twins loss, the Astros now control their own destiny and will make the playoffs no matter what if they go 9-0 to end the year.
Rangers are "only" 3.5 games ahead after today, but the Astros still won't be in 1st with a sweep. This ending to the season has been disappointing..
