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 612 games in the AL Central, but hold the final AL wild-card spot, leading Detroit and Seattle by 212 games.

They are 212 games behind Kansas City, which has the second wild-card spot.

Magic number: 11.

Any combination of Twins wins, and losses by their next closest pursuer equaling 11 will clinch the playoffs.

Major league standings Twins remaining schedule: Four at Cleveland (today-Thursday); three at Boston (Friday-Sunday); three vs.

Miami (Sept.

24-26); three vs.

Baltimore (Sept.

27-29).

Tiebreakers: As of Monday, 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..

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