Magic numbers indicate roughly what combination of wins, losses, and ties are needed for one team to catch another team on points before the end of the season. To use the magic number matrix, first select a team from the leftmost column. As you scan across that row, you will see the magic numbers for your chosen team against all the other teams.
If no number appears in a column, then one team can't catch the other. If the blank cell appears in the lower left of the matrix, the team in the row can't catch the team in the column. If in the upper right, the team in the row can't be caught by the team in the column.