{"id":804799,"date":"2026-09-14T13:09:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T13:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/804799\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T13:09:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T13:09:15","slug":"magic-numbers-for-cubs-and-white-sox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/804799\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic numbers for Cubs and White Sox"},"content":{"rendered":"

The marathon that is the Major League Baseball season is down to a September sprint, and the Cubs<\/a> and White Sox<\/a> are in the thick of a playoff hunt.<\/p>\n

The Cubs are all but assured for a second-place finish in the National League Central for the fourth consecutive season \u2014 with the first-place Milwaukee Brewers headed for their fourth straight division crown.<\/p>\n

The White Sox, meanwhile, are in a neck-and-neck battle with the Cleveland Guardians for the American League Central crown. The Sox are trying to complete a remarkable worst-to-first turnaround after losing more than 100 games each of the last three seasons.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where things stand.<\/p>\n

Want the latest baseball news? Subscribe to the Chicago Tribune<\/a> to read it all \u2014 and sign up for our Cubs Insider<\/a>\u00a0and White Sox Insider<\/a> newsletters.<\/p>\n

Cubs
\n\"Cubs'Cubs’ Michael Conforto ogs onto the field before the game against the Pirates at Wrigley Field on Sept. 13, 2026. (Arthur Maiorella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Record: 83-67 entering Monday<\/p>\n

Magic number for wild-card spot: 9.\n<\/p>\n

Elimination number for NL Central title: 2. \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s result: 4-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.<\/a><\/p>\n

Games remaining: 12.\n<\/p>\n

NL Central: Second place, 10 games behind the Brewers.<\/p>\n

NL wild card: Cubs hold the No. 1 spot, tied with the Phillies and 1 1\/2 ahead of the Padres. The Diamondbacks are still in the picture, 2 1\/2 games behind the Padres. \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Last playoff appearance: 2025, No. 4 seed in the NL as the top wild card. Beat the Padres 2-1 in the wild-card series; lost to the Brewers 3-2 in the division series.<\/p>\n

Postseason history: 22 appearances in 150 seasons \u2014 eight division titles, four wild-card berths, 17 pennants and three championships (1907, 1908, 2016).<\/p>\n

40-40 watch: Pete Crow-Armstrong is trying to become the seventh player in MLB history to reach 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a season. He has 41 home runs and 36 stolen bases. The six who accomplished the feat:<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9\u00a0Canseco, Athletics, 1988: 42 home runs, 40 stolen bases
\nBarry Bonds, Giants, 1996: 42-40
\nAlex Rodriguez, Mariners, 1998: 42-46
\nAlfonso Soriano, Nationals, 2006: 46-41
\nRonald Acuna Jr., Braves, 2023: 41-73
\nShohei Ohtani, Dodgers, 2024: 54-59<\/p>\n

White Sox
\n\"WhiteWhite Sox’s Randal Grichuk high-fives third-base coach Justin Jirschele after hitting a go-ahead two-run home run in the ninth inning against the Cardinals on Sept. 12, 2026, in St. Louis. (Scott Kane\/AP)<\/p>\n

Record: 76-73 entering Monday.<\/p>\n

AL Central: First place, \u00bd game ahead of the Guardians.<\/p>\n

Magic number: 13 for AL Central title.\n<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s result: 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals<\/a><\/p>\n

Games remaining: 13.\n<\/p>\n

Last playoff appearance: 2021, Central champions, No. 3 seed in the AL. Lost to the Astros 3-1 in the division series.<\/p>\n

Postseason history: 11 appearances in 125 seasons \u2014 six division titles, one wild-card berth, six pennants and three championships (1906, 1917, and 2005).<\/p>\n

Playoff format<\/p>\n

Wild-card round<\/p>\n

Sept. 29-Oct. 1, best of three, all at higher seed<\/p>\n

No. 5 seed at No. 4 seed
\nNo. 6 seed at No. 3 seed<\/p>\n

Nos. 1 and 2 seeds have byes<\/p>\n

Division series<\/p>\n

Oct. 3-10, best of five, 2-2-1 format<\/p>\n

No. 1 vs. No. 4\/5 winner
\nNo. 2 vs. No. 3\/6 winner<\/p>\n

League Championship Series<\/p>\n

Oct. 11-20, best of seven, 2-3-2 format<\/p>\n

World Series<\/p>\n

Oct. 23-31, best of seven, 2-3-2 format<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The marathon that is the Major League Baseball season is down to a September sprint, and the Cubs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":804800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2288],"tags":[48646,5,47653,98170,2328,2304,4,98169,2305,2303,50433,35046,97978,29389],"class_list":["post-804799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb-postseason","tag-al-central-standings","tag-baseball","tag-cubs-magic-number","tag-cubs-recrd","tag-major-league-baseball-playoffs","tag-major-league-baseball-postseason","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-magic-number","tag-mlb-playoffs","tag-mlb-postseason","tag-mlb-postseason-schedule","tag-nl-central-standings","tag-white-sox-magic-number","tag-white-sox-record"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117269559308515977","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/804800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}