Dodgers magic number to clinch the National League West

With a week and a half left in the regular season, the Dodgers are closing in on potentially a fourth consecutive National League West crown and 12th in the last 13 seasons.

The Dodgers on Friday host the Giants at Dodger Stadium. Earlier in the day the Padres lost their series opener to the White Sox in Chicago. Los Angeles is up three and a half games on San Diego.

NL West standings

Dodgers 86-67 (.562) – – –
Padres 83-71 (.539) 3 1/2 GB

By virtue of beating the Padres nine times in 13 games to secure the season series, the Dodgers hold the tiebreaker over San Diego. So they only need to tie the Padres to clinch the division.

The Dodgers magic number to clinch the National League West is now 5.

Put another way, the Dodgers have nine games remaining and the have eight games left, and they don’t play one another. The Dodgers need five of those 17 outcomes to go their way to win the division, while the Padres need 13 of 18 outcomes to fall their way to prevail in the division.

Remaining schedules

The Dodgers host the Giants this weekend. The Padres play the 96-loss White Sox this weekend in Chicago.

Next week the Dodgers are on the road to play the Diamondbacks and American League West-leading Mariners, while the Padres will be at home to face the best-record-in-baseball Brewers before finishing up against the D-backs.

If everything goes perfectly for the Dodgers, the earliest possible day they could clinch the division is Sunday, September 21.