What's the ‘magic number' for the Atlanta Braves now?

ATLANTA, Ga. — The "magic number" for the Atlanta Braves has dropped to two.

The Braves defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5 Friday night at SunTrust Park.

Any combination of Braves victories and Phillies losses that equals the magic number will result in the NL East Division title for the Braves.

Each time the Braves win, that reduces the magic number by one. Each time the Phillies lose, that also reduces the magic number by one.

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To calculate the magic number, take the number of games remaining on the leading team’s schedule, add the number one, and subtract the number of games the first-place team leads by in the loss column.

The Braves (86-68) have 8 games to play and lead the Phillies (78-75) by 7 games in the loss column. So take 8, add one and subtract 7 to get 2. The Phillies have 9 games remaining.

The Braves and Phillies play each other seven more times this season: Sept. 20-23 at SunTrust Park and Sept. 28-30 in Philadelphia.

The NL playoffs begin with the NL wild-card game on Tuesday, Oct. 2. The division series begin on Thursday, Oct. 4.

Tickets are now on sale.

Atlanta Braves 'magic number' tracker
Sept. 7 - Braves lose. Phillies win. Magic number = 20
Sept. 8 - Braves win. Phillies lose. Magic number = 18
Sept. 9 - Braves win. Phillies lose. Magic number = 16
Sept. 10 - Braves win. Phillies did not play. Magic number = 15
Sept. 11 - Braves win. Phillies swept in doubleheader. Magic number = 12
Sept. 12 - Braves win. Phillies lose. Magic number = 10
Sept. 14 - Braves win. Phillies win. Magic number = 9
Sept. 15 - Braves lose. Phillies play night game. Magic number = 9
Sept. 16 - Braves lose. Phillies lose. Magic number = 8
Sept. 17 - Braves lose. Phillies lose. Magic number = 7
Sept. 18 - Braves lose. Phillies win. Magic number = 7
Sept. 19 - Braves win. Phillies win. Magic number = 6

Sept. 20 - Braves win. Phillies lose. Magic number = 4

Sept. 21 - Braves win. Phillies lose. Magic number = 2