Mariners Magic Number Update: First AL West title since 2001 is far from clinched

After a wait of nearly a quarter-century, Seattle Mariners fans might be just two weeks away from finally being able to call their team American League West champions again. At the least, some sort of playoff berth is close to feeling like a sure thing.

For anyone who's curious what needs to happen for the Mariners to get into the postseason, that's where magic numbers are helpful.

A magic number captures how quickly a team can claim a playoff spot, as it ticks down with every win by the team in question and every loss by its most direct competitor for a playoff spot. Per MLB.com, the formula is: Games remaining +1 - (Losses by second place team - losses by first place team).

The Mariners have double-digit magic numbers to make the playoffs and to win AL West

For the Mariners, the first magic number concerns how many games stand between them and simply clinching a playoff spot. Otherwise, there's how close they are to finally winning the AL West for the first time in 24 years.

Mariners' Magic Number for Playoff Spot: 10

Though the Mariners (82-68) have played their way out of the American League wild card picture, they still need to keep an eye on the Texas Rangers (79-71), who are vying to take the third and final spot from the Houston Astros (81-69).

To this end, the Mariners can hypothetically punch their playoff ticket this week through a combination of five straight wins and five straight losses by the Rangers.

This is unlikely, of course. The nine-game win streak the Mariners are on now can't last forever, and they're staring down a couple of tough road assignments in Kansas City and Houston. The Rangers will have their hands full with the Astros at Daikin Park to begin the week, but then they're in for a soft landing at home with six straight against Miami and Minnesota.

Mariners' Magic Number for AL West Title: 12

That the Mariners are in first place in the AL West this late in the season is good news just on its own. As Sarah Langs of MLB.com noted, it's the latest they've had first place to themselves since the last time they won the division in 2001:

That said, the Mariners are only 1.0 game up on the Astros with a dozen games still to play, and the season series hasn't been decided yet. The two clubs have split the 10 games they have played.

The coming three-game set between the Mariners and Astros in Houston between Friday and Sunday is capital-H Huge. FanGraphs gives the Mariners a 67.9 percent chance to win the AL West, but it'll be that much harder to make that happen if they don't win the series and gain a tiebreaker over Houston.

Winning the AL West would guarantee the Mariners at least the No. 3 seed in the AL playoff field, which would result in them hosting the No. 6 seed in a best-of-three Wild Card Series. As of now, that would mean a showdown with the Astros at T-Mobile Park.

A first-round bye is still in play if the Mariners can nab the No. 1 or No. 2 seed. For these, they trail the Toronto Blue Jays (87-62) by 5.5 games and the Detroit Tigers (85-65) by 3.0 games. If the Mariners claim either spot, they'd move straight to the Division Series round to host a best-of-five series.

No matter how you look at it, the Mariners are in a good spot but not in a position to be cocky. They still have work to do before they can celebrate.