Is Detroit Tigers’ Kevin McGonigle MLB ready? Geoff Pontes evaluates
On “Days of Roar” podcast, Baseball America prospect writer Geoff Pontes evaluates if Kevin McGonigle is ready for his MLB debut in the 2025 season.
It’s that time of the year again: Time to count down the Detroit Tigers’ magic number!
The “magic number” is used in baseball to determine how many wins (or how many losses by the No. 2 team) are required for a team to clinch a spot in the postseason through a wild-card berth or a division title. It’s a nice, round way of figuring out how long before teams (and their fans) can start celebrating.
Despite losing two of three games to start the week against the New York Mets, A.J. Hinch’s squad is sitting comfortably in first place in the American League Central.
The Tigers beat the Mets on Wednesday, Sept. 3, thanks to huge at-bats from sluggers Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene and now have an 81-60 record – good for a 10-game lead over the Kansas City Royals (as the Royals blew a two-run lead on Wednesday night in a loss to the Los Angeles Angels).
That’s far and away the biggest lead any team has atop of their division, and with just 21 games left in the season and an off day on Thursday, it’s a perfect time to figure out when the Tigers might be able to clinch a spot in the postseason and an AL Central crown.
Here’s what you need to know:
With 21 games left, the Tigers’ magic number for the Kansas City Royals is 13.
Though the Royals are the Tigers’ biggest competition in the AL Central, the “Gritty Tigs” will also have to close out the Cleveland Guardians to officially clinch their division crown.
Cleveland is half a game behind Kansas City and with the Guardians’ win over the Red Sox on Wednesday night, the Tigers’ magic number for the Guardians is also 13.
How do you calculate a team’s magic number?
It’s a lot easier than it sounds, even if your math skills are lacking.
There are two different ways to determine a team’s magic number.
The first: 163 – (first-place team’s win total + second-place team’s loss total) = magic number.
The second: Game remaining + 1 – (losses by second-place team – losses by first-place team) = magic number.
When could the Tigers clinch the division?
That’s a good question that takes a fair amount of guess work.
If the Tigers were to go on an absolute tear and the Royals were to fall apart, the earliest the Tigers could eliminate the Royals from the division would be Thursday, Sept. 11 against the New York Yankees, but considering how close the Guardians are behind the Royals and the fact the two teams play each other Sept. 8-11, it wouldn’t let the Tigers clinch the AL Central.
Factoring in that the Tigers also probably won’t go undefeated, a much more likely time frame would be the end of the Miami Marlins series (Sept. 12-14), the Guardians series (Sept. 16-18) or the Atlanta Braves series (Sept. 19-21). After that, the Tigers finish the season’s final week with road series against the Guardians (Sept. 23-25) and the Boston Red Sox (Sept. 26-28).
Andrew Birkle is an assistant sports editor for the Free Press. Follow him on “X” at andrew_birkle or via email at [email protected].