Guardians Magic Number after much-needed off day to prepare for Twins showdown

Thursday was a day of rest for the Cleveland Guardians. Maybe some of them put their feet up and watched the Rams and 49ers battle in Australia. Maybe some of them walked around Minneapolis to see what the Twin Cities had to offer. 

But regardless of what they did, they all gained an extra game in the postseason standings by virtue of the White Sox suffering a 2-0 loss to the Pirates early on Thursday night. 

That Chicago loss dropped the Guardians' deficit in the American League Central to just 1 1/2 games ahead of next week’s series against the White Sox. They also are entering tonight’s series opener against the Twins with a one game lead over the Blue Jays for the American League’s final Wild Card spot to go along with a Magic Number of 13. 

The Guardians control their postseason destiny 

For the uninitiated, that Magic Number consists of a combination of Guardians wins and losses from the team trailing them in the postseason race (in this case, the Blue Jays). 

If the Guardians win later today, their Magic Number would drop to 12 no matter what happens with Toronto. But it would drop to 11 if the Blue Jays lose to the Orioles and the Rangers lose to the Diamondbacks. 

On the flip side, the White Sox have a Magic Number of 14 on the Guardians, so they’d win the division if they rattled off 14 in a row regardless of what happened with the Guardians. 

But the Guardians have a great chance to thrust themselves to the top of that division race thanks to next week’s series against the White Sox that's shaping up to be the biggest series of the year for the Guardians. 

The White Sox are obviously a talented team (there’s a reason they’re leading the division), but they’ve let the Guardians back into the division race thanks to a 3-6 record in August. 

Their rough September hit a new low on Thursday when they were no-hit through six innings in that 3-0 loss to the Pirates. They’re now headed to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals before heading to Cleveland for that aforementioned series against the Guardians. 

Meanwhile, the Guardians are set to take on the Twins in a three-game series where the only known pitching matchup is Parker Messick going against Taj Bradley on Friday.

If the Guardians stayed in their normal rotation schedule they’d open that White Sox series with Tanner Bibee on the mound, which has already resulted in some consternation in Northeast Ohio.   

But before the Guardians take on the White Sox, they have to get through the Twins. And if they take care of business in that series, that Magic Number could be in single digits when they take on Chicago. 

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