Time To Clinch Near For Cincinnati Order the Champagne

The Reds have three games with the Cubs while the St. Louis Cardinals have three games at home with the Houston Astros.

With the Reds' magic number at five, meaning any combination of Reds' wins and Cardinal losses that add to five, give the Reds the National League Central Division title.

That magic number can be reached as early as Thursday around 4pm Eastern time.  If the Reds win the first two games against the Cubs and the Astros find a way to sweep the Cardinals in Busch Stadium, the Reds could celebrate on the way home from Chicago.  Winning three by the Reds would also finish off the Pirates and Brewers, both of whom are barely breathing with a tragic number of three.

Most likely the Reds will clinch some time this weekend against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are battling the Cardinals for a wild card playoff spot.

While the Reds have a three game weekend series against the Dodgers followed by three games at home against Milwaukee, St. Louis has nine games in nine days against the Cubs and Astros, including the three-game set with Houston, the next three days.  The Cardinals go on the road to play Chicago for three and Houston for three before they come back home to play three with the Washington Nationals, owners of the best record in baseball.

The Reds close the season with three games in Pittsburgh and three in St. Louis but by then it should just be tune up time for the playoffs.

Thinking ahead the Reds' magic number to finish ahead of the San Francisco Giants is 11.  Finishing with the second best record will earn the Reds home field advantage in the Divisional Series the best-of-five first round of the playoffs.

The Reds have a shot at the first seed in the playoffs by finishing ahead of the Washington Nationals.  The Nationals have 16 games left with a 89-57 record.  The Reds have 15 left with a 88-59 mark.  The most the Reds could possibly win is 103 games.  With 15 wins the Nationals can win 104, making the magic number for the first round seed 15. On the other hand the Reds' have a magic number of 18 for taking over the top seed from Washington.  For example if the Reds go 10-5 and Washington goes 8-8 the Reds take the top seed.

On the negative side, in the very unlikely event of a Reds' collapse, they have a magic number of four to at least clinch a wild card spot over the Dodgers, who are followed by Milwaukee and Pittsburgh in the wild card race.