So as of completion of Week 31 in MLS, except for the Sunday LA-Houston match, there are some thing determined and a lot of things still up in the air for the Dynamo. What's determined - the 4 teams that will be in the Western Conference playoffs is finalized, it will be Houston, Chivas, LA, and Seattle. Only the positioning of the teams is yet to be finalized. Also, Columbus has the top seed in the East What's still undetermined - any of the 4 teams in the West can finish first, and any of the teams can finish fourth. The 3 teams besides Columbus to play in the East are still not final. There are still 7 teams fighting for 3 spots (Chicago, Toronto, New England, DC, Colorado, Dallas, RSL) Focusing on Houston and the West and the fight for the Supporters Shield, here's the remaining games: LA @ Houston (10/18) Chivas @ Chicago (10/22) Colorado @ RSL (10/24) Dallas @ Seattle (10/24) San Jose @ LA (10/24) Houston @ Chivas (10/25) New England @ Columbus (10/25) - only impacts Supporters Shield In terms of winning the West, Houston has its fate in its own hands. Wins over LA and Chivas and Houston wins the West. Other scenarios where Houston wins the West: 1. Win over LA, Draw with Chivas, and Chivas loses or draws @ Chicago 2. Draw with LA, Win over Chivas, and Chivas loses or draws @ Chicago and LA loses or draws with San Jose 3. Draw with LA and Draw with Chivas, and Chivas loses @ Chicago and LA loses to San Jose In order to win the Supporters Shield, here's what has to happen: Houston beats both LA and Chivas, and Columbus loses to New England (Columbus holds the tiebreaker over Houston, so if they both end up with 50 points CBus gets the Shield)
Interesting, I saw a 'y' next to sCrew, I guess the MLS sees them as a certainty? Or is that just top of the conference?
All I can say is if Seattle is in the final (and not playing the Dynamo) I might have to give up my plane tickets. And if Dallas is there, I just might kill myself.
Dallas in the playoff ??? and without Kenny Cooper....I guess KC is the problem.. Alright , I'll take back all the stuff I bad mouth about Dallas.. If Dallas is in the playoff, then I prefer we played with them rather Seattle..right guys ?? or am I wrong ?
Wow. I started computing the playoff scenarios and was quickly overwhelmed. We have two seperate contests going on in MLS. First of import to us are the four teams who will make up the western conference bracket battling for seeding/home field advantage: LAG, Dynamo, Chivas & Seattle. All four are qualified. All four teams can finish in any of the four positions. For the Dynamo -- just beat Chivas and #1 or #2 spot is guaranteed based solely on what LAG does. If LAG wins, Dynamo finish #2. Any other LAG result and Dynamo win the West with a Win. A Dynamo draw against Chivas could see the Dynamo finish in any spot. A Dynamo loss leaves the Dynamo at #3 or #4 depending on what Seattle does. Those looking to book travel plans -- the Dynamo could face any of these three teams in the first round. Second: Six teams battleing for 3 playoff spots in the Eastern bracket: Chicago, TFC, DCU, NER, COR & Frisco!! We could conceivably see six Western Conference teams in the playoffs if: NER lose or draw @ CLB DCU lose or draw @ KCW TFC lose or draw @ NYRB COR Wins @ RSL FCD wins @ Seattle How about this tidbit: Of the teams fighting for an Eastern Conference berth -- only Chicago is at home. The other five are all on the road against teams allready qualified or out-of-it. None of the combatants face each other. One thing is clear. With parity in MLS, and 15 teams becoming 16 next year. Every single game in the regular season is important. Every point is important.
So who would you rather have in the first round? LAG - FO would love this as this would be the biggest seller with a one week ticket sale window, IMO perhaps toughest obstacle CHV - Bad blood from prior playoffs and perhaps best chance to advance (provided half the team is not sent off in the Season Finale) SEA - Hard to predict outcome since neither is playing stellar at home but a nice dose of STFU would be sweet IF (and that's a big IF) we were to make it to the Cup (w/o Home Field Advantage) that's three trips to the West Coast. Choices, Choices.....
Right now I still don't want to face Seattle if all possible. I think the best matchup to start is Chivas, which would be kind of cool since he end the season against them. That's three matches in three weeks! Could you imagine that second leg. That series of matches would make a seven game Stanley cup playoff series seem like a jr hockey exhibition in terms of intensity. There are definitely going to be some reds if that turns out. A big worry if that happens, is finishing second and having to go to LA two times in a row and then come. Some home advantage. Those guys are going to be pretty tanked by then. LA is playing well. Hell-can you imagine LAG winning the whole thing this year with Cousin Brucie's Nursing home/circus....OMG-they'll probably make a movie of how Beckham came and conquered America. I hope that really doesn't happen. I don't want face LAG if at all possible. Their old man defense is the type that can give us fits.
LOL. What?? The MLS marketing machine would love the Gals winning the cup ... then they can extort more money from AC Milan.... but before he goes to play for them, he'll tear an ACL and then Milan will want more money from MLS
For all those wanting to travel for the playoffs, the airline prices are much better if we are the 3rd or 4th seed than 1st or 2nd for both LA and Seattle flying out Nov 6 weekend.
If they make it they will be in the Eastern Bracket, so the earliest we could play would be the final, in Seattle.
I just don't want to limp in the playoffs....get the win v Chivas and let the chips fall where they may
I can't tell by the comments posted... Is there any way/scenerio in which we get a home game on November 7th? I'm out the 14th and 21st... may have some tickets to sell.
If we win against Chivas we'll finish 1st or 2nd in the west and play at home the weekend of the 7th (assuming we're not playing on Thursday).
So I have a spread sheet that shows the 81 different ways things could play out this weekend in the Western conference and what the order of finish is for each. I can print it to a PDF file. How do I post that here? Anyone know? If I actually renew my paid membership on BS can I do it?
valid file types: bmp doc gif jpe jpeg jpg pdf png psd txt zip or just take screenshots and save as gif or jpg send it to me and I can upload.
Things slow at the office this week? Wish I had the time to calculate all of the permutations. I know this, if we end up 2nd/3rd with Chivas as opponent and have to play them in three straight games, the winner of that series will go into the Western finals with probably 12 guys sitting on cards or suspended.
Please note on the file Yossarin so nicely posted up for me. I may not have applied the tie-breaks correctly in all situations. I'm pretty damn sure I go most correct, if not close to all. If you see one where I got incorrect please nicely point it out and don't call me an idiot. I did this in the middle of the night and it was kinda mind numbing work. Also, I'm kinda hoping it is self-explanatory how to use it. If I think that in error please let me know and I can write a short explanation.
http://web.mlsnet.com/mls/schedule/ Thursday, October 22 Chivas USA @ Chicago Fire 8:00 p.m. ET (ESPN2, Deportes) Saturday, October 24 FC Dallas at Seattle Sounders FC 10:30 p.m. ET (DK, Match Center) San Jose Earthquakes at Los Angeles Galaxy 10:30 p.m ET (DK, Match Center) It's really great that no matter what happens, all four teams will be waiting until we're finished to get resolution.
Not true. If LA beats San Jose they clinch first place, no matter what happens in the rest of the games. And if Seattle loses to Dallas, Seattle finishes in 4th place. So the Houston game on Sunday would only decide which of Houston/Chivas finish second or third. Now if LA draws or loses, or if Seattle draws or wins, then Sunday's game can decide things for Seattle and LA as well as Houston and Chivas.