What is the Milwaukee Brewers magic number? Cubs keep losing

The Milwaukee Brewers, the current leaders of the NL Central, are poised to top the division in 2023. Their direct competition lies in the second-place Chicago Cubs, who are 6 games behind the Brewers.

As playoff baseball waits around the corner, the magic number becomes a more relevant factoid for teams' fans to calculate. In the MLB, a magic number is the number of combined wins and losses that tells you how close a leading team is to clinching a division title or playoff berth.

Naturally, as the MLB regular season comes to a close, the magic number increases in importance and teams across the league can just about taste the victory of a division title or maybe a wild card berth.

Without any further ado, here is the Milwaukee Brewers' magic number as of the evening of September 14.

What is the Milwaukee Brewers magic number?

UPDATE: The Brewers magic number is down to 8 to win the NL Central. It's down to 6 to clinch a postseason spot.

After the Brewers beat the Miami Marlins on Thursday, the Brewers' magic number is 12 to win the NL Central.

Yesterday, the Marlins beat the Brewers, a minor setback for Milwaukee in their division-clinching hopes. On Thursday, in the final game of the series, the Brewers were able to win against the Marlins, 4-2, and decrease their magic number from 13 to 12.

Per MLB.com, a team's magic number can be calculated using the following equation: Games remaining +1 - (Losses by second place team - losses by first place team).

The "+1" in the formula serves the purpose of eliminating any possible ties.

The Brewers currently control their own fate and remain firmly in the lead for the NL Central title. They will start a three-game series against the Nationals on Friday.