What you need to know about the Twins and the MLB playoffs

The goal: The Twins are trying to clinch an American League playoff berth.

Status: The Twins trail first-place Cleveland by 6½ games in the AL Central, but hold the final AL wild-card spot, leading Detroit by 1½ games and Seattle by 3.

Who are they chasing? They are 1½ games behind Kansas City, which has the second wild-card spot, and four behind Baltimore, which is the top wild-card team.

Magic number: 9. Any combination of Twins wins, and losses by their next closest pursuer equaling nine will clinch the playoffs.

If the playoffs started today: The Twins would be the No. 6 seed and face No. 3 Houston, which is the leader in the West.

Major league standings

Twins remaining games: Two at Cleveland (today-Thursday); three at Boston (Friday-Sunday); three vs. Miami (Sept. 24-26); three vs. Baltimore (Sept. 27-29).

Tiebreakers: The Twins have tiebreakers over the Royals, Tigers, Astros and Mariners based on head-to-head competition. The tiebreaking format is explained here.

When do the playoffs start? The final day of the regular season is Sunday, Sept. 29; the first playoff games are Tuesday, Oct. 1.

Teams: There are six qualifiers from each league in the playoffs; three division champions and three wild-card teams.

First round: The two division champs in each league with the best records get byes. The other division winner plays host to the wild-card team with the worst record (sixth seed) and the top two wild-card teams play each other.

Format: The first round is best-of-three, with all games being at the home of the higher seed. Teams are not reseeded for the Division Series, which are best-of-five. The League Championship Series and World Series are best-of-seven.

Tickets: Went on sale Monday.