(WXYZ) — Everything seems to be going right for the Detroit Tigers, and as the team enters the final week of the regular season, they have a magic number for the playoffs.
That magic number is six. That means any combination of Tigers wins and Minnesota Twins losses totaling six gets the Tigers into the MLB Playoffs.
The surging Tigers are 7-3 in the last 10 games, while the Minnesota Twins are 3-7 and the Kansas City Royals are 2-8.
At one time, the Tigers were several games back out of a Wild Card spot, but as of Monday, the Tigers sit in the second Wild Card spot and are four games back from the Baltimore Orioles for the top Wild Card spot.
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Detroit has six games this week, all at home. The first three are the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, followed by a final three games against the Chicago White Sox during the weekend.
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How does the "magic number" work? According to the MLB, the magic number is the combination of wins needed by the team and losses by its closest competitor.
Every time the Tigers win, the magic number decreases by one. Every time the team's closest competitor loses, the magic number also decreases by one.
In baseball, the phrase "magic number" is used to determine how close a team is to making the playoffs or winning the division. It becomes prominent every year in September as teams begin closing in on clinching.
"The exact formula is: Games remaining +1 - (Losses by second place team - losses by first place team)," the MLB said.
If a new second-place team emerges, that magic number then adjusts to the new second place team.
