By Genesis 18:31, Abraham is calling God "the Lord of all the world" — ribbon kol alma in the Targum's Aramaic — and apologizing in advance.
"Imploring mercy, I have now begun to speak before the Lord, the Lord of all the world. Perhaps twenty who pray may be found; ten in each of the two cities, and the three forgive Thou for Thy mercy's sake!"
Look closely at the math. Abraham has conceded that three of the five plain-cities may be entirely without righteous people. He is now asking God to spare the whole region on the strength of two praying communities of ten — two minyanim — plus sheer mercy for the rest.
This is one of the most telling moments in the bargaining. The ratio of righteousness-to-wickedness Abraham is now proposing is so low that the plea has essentially become an appeal to chesed (loving-kindness) rather than justice. He is asking mercy to do most of the work.
And God, remarkably, agrees again. "I will not destroy for the sake of the twenty innocent."
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan keeps adding the phrase "who pray" (detzallin) to each round, because the Aramaic tradition wants to make one point unmistakable: righteousness in this bargain is not abstract moral goodness. It is active petition. The people who save cities are the people who stand up, turn toward Heaven, and ask.
The takeaway: twenty people praying, in a world full of silent bystanders, can hold back a storm.