{"id":812026,"date":"2026-09-23T05:33:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T05:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/812026\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T05:33:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T05:33:17","slug":"magic-numbers-for-cubs-and-white-sox-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/812026\/","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 will finish in second place in the National League Central for the fourth consecutive season \u2014 with the first-place Milwaukee Brewers having clinched their fourth straight division crown<\/a>.<\/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<\/a> 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\"CubsCubs designated hitter Matt Shaw heads to the dugout after flying out to end the seventh inning against the Marlins at Wrigley Field on Sept. 22, 2026, in Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Record: 87-70 through Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Magic number for a wild-card spot: 1 (combination of Cubs wins and Arizona Diamondbacks losses).<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s result: 8-2 loss to the Miami Marlins in 12 innings.<\/p>\n

Games remaining: 5.<\/p>\n

NL Central standings: The Brewers have clinched the division<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NL wild card: The Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres are tied for the No. 1 spot. The Diamondbacks are four games back after their win on Tuesday. The Cubs own the tiebreaker over all three teams.<\/p>\n

Last playoff appearance: 2025 as the No. 4 seed in the NL as the top wild card. The Cubs beat the Padres 2-1 in the wild-card series before losing to the Brewers<\/a> 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<\/a> is trying to become the seventh player in MLB history to reach 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a season. He has 45 home runs and 39 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\"ChicagoChicago White Sox’s Chase Meidroth (10) celebrates with Munetaka Murakami (5) after hitting a three-run home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel)<\/p>\n

Record: 81-76 through Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Magic number for a wild-card spot: 3 (combination of Sox wins and Houston Astros losses).<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s result: 14-11 win over the Kansas City Royals.<\/a><\/p>\n

Games remaining: 5.<\/p>\n

AL Central standings: The White Sox trail the first-place Guardians \u2014 who also won Tuesday \u2014 by one game. If the Sox and Guardians finish with the same record, the Sox own the tiebreaker and would win the division title.<\/p>\n

AL wild card: The Sox hold the No. 3 spot, three games ahead of the Texas Rangers and four games ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays.<\/p>\n

Last playoff appearance: 2021 as the AL Central champions and No. 3 seed in the AL. The White Sox lost to the Astros<\/a> 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 the 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":810060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2379],"tags":[48646,5,138,49,2561,47653,98170,4,98169,2303,50433,35046,396,97978,29389,2562],"class_list":["post-812026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-white-sox","tag-al-central-standings","tag-baseball","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-chicagowhitesox","tag-cubs-magic-number","tag-cubs-recrd","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-magic-number","tag-mlb-postseason","tag-mlb-postseason-schedule","tag-nl-central-standings","tag-white-sox","tag-white-sox-magic-number","tag-white-sox-record","tag-whitesox"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117318727034720747","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812026","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=812026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}