ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers have entered the home stretch of the 2023 season. And they're also getting closer to clinching the American League West championship, along with a playoff berth.
Here's the latest playoff picture, including the Rangers' "magic number."
AL West Standings
As of Thursday, Texas (89-69) maintained a 2.5-game lead over the Houston Astros (87-72) in the American League West, as both teams won Wednesday night. Texas led the Seattle Mariners (85-73) by four games, after Seattle lost to Houston on Wednesday night.
The Rangers and Mariners have four games remaining, all against each other. The Astros have three games remaining: A three-game series against the Diamondbacks.
AL Wild Card Standings
The Rangers are leading the AL West, so they're not *technically* in the Wild Card hunt. But the Astros and Mariners are chasing them in the division, and the top Wild Card team, the Toronto Blue Jays, are two games behind Texas at 87-71. The Blue Jays lost to the Yankees on Wednesday night.
Here's where the Wild Card race stood entering Thursday. As a reminder, three Wild Card teams make the playoffs, where they'll play in a best-of-three series in the first round.
- Tampa Bay Rays: 97-62
- Toronto Blue Jays: 87-71
- Houston Astros: 87-72
- Seattle Mariners: 85-73
Seattle is currently the odd team out.
What is the Texas Rangers' magic number?
Texas has two "magic numbers" in play: 2 to win the American League West and 1 to clinch at least a Wild Card spot.
What does that mean? The magic number is the needed combination of your team's wins and their opponents' losses to clinch either a playoff spot or, in Texas' case, a division title.
As it stood Thursday, Texas, with four games left, needed their remaining wins and the Astros' remaining losses to equal two.
So if Texas goes 2-2 over its final four games, it doesn't matter what Houston does -- Texas would win the AL West.
As another example, if Texas goes 1-3 over its final four, and the Astros go 2-1 over their final three, the Rangers would also win the AL West.
A Wild Card spot will be an easier bar to clear. Texas can go 1-3 over its final four to guarantee a playoff spot.
As of Thursday morning, ESPN put Texas' playoff odds at 99.1%, up from 97% on Tuesday.
What could go wrong?
A lot of scenarios are still on the table. We broke all of those down here.
