QUOTE (cjgalloway @ Sep 7, 2017 -> 10:55 AM)
Yeah I don't get the magic bold number thing at all either lol. I'm not the only one!!!
Normally the Magic Number thing is used for teams that are about to win a division, and the number goes down by one if the first place team wins, or the second place team loses.
Example- AL East
Red Sox 79-61
Yankees 74-64
How the Magic Number is figured-
Games left, plus 1, minus games ahead in loss column.
In the Red Sox case: 22 games left +1 (23) - 3 games in the loss column = 20
Their Magic Number is 20. For every Red Sox win it goes down by one. For every Yankees loss, it goes down by one.
When the Magic Number is Zero, they've clinched the AL East.
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In the White Sox case, I did the opposite, taking in consideration they only have to be as bad as the Giants, Mets, and Tigers, and a full game worse than the rest in the bottom 9 teams in the league.
So the A's number is 20.
If the Sox go 12-12, then the A's can go 8-15, and they'd still be below the Sox in draft order. If the A's went 7-16, they'd have a better pick.