So how do you see the remaining 11 games playing out?

In January, how many people would have called 40 points a good season?

And, although it is the MLS norm, shame on them for enabling a team that only could generate 40 points to go on and call their season a success. They’ll call it an overwhelming success if they advance very far in the playoffs.

 

Considering that if we did make the playoffs, we'd likely have a play-in game (away) and then if we won, face the #1 team (probably Miami) away. But no doubt they'd spin it as a "successful" season, how we came back from a terrible start and all those injuries, yadda, yadda, yadda. The thing is, if we had even taken half of the points in the first third of the season, we'd be sitting in a pretty comfortable place right now.

 

Looks like no Esmir or new guy for the STL game:

Every MLS call-up: September 2024 international window
MLSsoccer staff
Thursday, Aug 29, 2024, 01:06 PM

 

Gil is back, and we have Langoni, so there's that.

 

Arreaga called up (Ecuador) as well.

Three Revolution players earn national team call-ups for September
revolutionsoccer.net
Friday, Aug 30, 2024, 11:00 AM

Good thing we have Kessler to fill in vs STL. Oh, wait....

 

On the plus side that'll probably be Parker's first chance to get a game in.

 

Yeah I'm not worried about CB between Parker, Farrell, and Mensah (I'd prefer not to see Mensah)

 

You play the game by the rules that exist - and that is that MLS playoffs are what counts, nothing else comes close.

The Nicol years when we had mediocre regular seasons but made runs to the finals were a big deal IMO - as they like to say, no one remembers how you got there.

Squeaking into the playoffs isn't going to give them much of a chance - they really need to exceed the minimum and push up a few spots.

OTOH, our playoff experience on the bad end as a Supporter's Shield winner gives some hope that anything can happen (though I doubt this year's playoff schedule will give an advantage like NYC got).

Sure, but who really cares how they spin it? We all know that they are full of horse-crap.

 

I just can’t ever see it that way. Back when I paid for season tickets, I got to see 17 or more pretty crappy home games and NONE of the exciting, always away, for the squeak-in teams, playoff games. It’s a brilliant marketing approach: extremely reduce your clientele’s expectations and have them excited by it.

But the horse is too dead to beat anymore. MLS did it, everyone (almost) bought into it. Ka-ching. WINNING!

 

I refuse to be convinced that being the best team for 6 weeks in october is a higher accomplishment than being the best team for 34 weeks. The only tournament the revs play that really matters (to me) is the CCC because its to be the best of the best teams on the continent.

1) Shield
2) CCC
3) USOC
4) Leagues Cup

 

No, MLS Cup is the yardstick. Everything else is a "nice to have." Losing the Open Cup in 2001 in LA was bad, but nowhere near as bad as the 5 other times...

 

The MLS Cup looks good in a photograph.

The shield is the yardstick.

Measuring by either we stick this year

 

No one (and by that I mean, outside of a select few) reveres the 2007 Patriots for going 16-0, because they didn't win the SuperBowl. They would unquestionably be considered the best team of all time if they had won, but they didn't.

Yes, soccer is a different sport, but the average American mindset is the head-to-head, winner-take-all battle is most important. (So if you prefer the Shield, I guess that makes you above average )

Look at the Olympic relay team that set a World Record in the semi-finals, but lost the head-to-head race in the finals, so they didn't get the gold. You could argue the team with the best time should get the gold, but that's not how it works.

The NHL awards the President's Trophy to the team with the best regular season record. How many hockey fans even know that is a thing? And of those, how many put it above the Stanley Cup?

As Bruce Arena said, with the unbalanced schedule in MLS, the Supporters Shield holds little weight.

 

To be clear, I’m fine with MLS Cup being THE most coveted trophy. My complaint will continue to be that MLS puts way too much time into making it far too easy for really bad teams to “qualify” for the playoffs. What may have made sense in 1996 shouldn’t continue to make sense in 2024. The approach leads to WAY TOO MUCH crap soccer during the regular season.

Barring them winning out the remaining games on their schedule, the 2024 NE Revolution are a very bad team. Many things contribute to that, like injuries, but even so, it comes down to mostly poor ownership (Krafts), poor management (Onalfo), poor [or at a minimum very slow to work] coaching, and some disappointing play by some players. Teams that are in the neighborhood of 1 point per game should stand out as unsuccessful rather than “making” the playoffs and declaring a good (just by “making” it) or great (by advancing to or winning the Cup) year.

So, to be clear, we are talking about a team that looks on track to LOSE half of their total games (or more) and to only win about 1/4 of their total games, 1/3 if they are lucky. They may make the playoffs thanks to the very low bar MLS sets. How is that improving the league? I maintain it hasn’t ever helped to improve this team. Instead it rewards that poor ownership/management/coaching/play that got us here. How does that help STHs to feel they will see good, competitive play next March-June when taking points “isn’t really urgent yet” for ownership/management/coaching/players?

 

A European style relagation program might make the difference.

 

On this, I agree 100%. Eighteen out of 29 teams making the playoffs is too many.

 

I just dont think casual attention or media accolades define success.

I want to watch the team i support win games and play well, and for me the shield will always be the best representation of that.

That doesnt diminish others who prefer a short form tournament like MLS Cup. But it does beg the question why so few people care about the USOC, which is also a short form tourney and is defined by which team wins the last game.

 

I think we are destined to always be in an endless cycle of compare and contrast when it comes to evaluating MLS and where it stands on the American pro sports stage and where it stands on the global pro soccer stage.

In the American pro sports landscape, the only thing that really matters is MLS Cup. That's the MLS equivalent of the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, NBA Championship and World Series. The regular season sets the stage for the playoffs, and that is where the ultimate champion is crowned. I'm fine with that and I can live without pro/rel.

At the same time, I love that soccer places importance on more than a single trophy, and the American game at least embraces that to a degree. Seeing our team win the Open Cup and Superliga were amazing moments, and following the entire course of the 2021 season on the way to the Shield was the best year of following the Revs...right up until the inevitable postseason crash. I love that we have the CCC and Club World Cup to dream about, and I don't mind the Leagues Cup. Winning that would be pretty awesome.

So there are plenty of things to complain about, but the number of trophies that are on the table to chase every year isn't one of them. Now if we could just be a consistently competitive and less shambolic franchise...

 

FWIW, Porter said this week (paraphrasing) he thinks if they win their 4 home games, plus one road game, that will get them in. That would be 41 pts.

Meanwhile, the cutoff line in the West looks like it will be around 45 pts.

 

Check my math and my internet lookup skills but I think the Celtics had to play 19 Post-Season games this year (with tougher competition it could have been 28 games?) in order to win the NBA championship. That is 1/4 [1/3 @ 28] as many games as in the regular season (approximately) and IIRC it is a best of 7 series in each round. Advancing against a [much] higher seed doesn’t seem like a fluke in a best of 7 series. Playing that many post season games, with guaranteed home games every series, is a plus for viewing the exciting part of the season on TV and in person. At least I know I’m going to get [up to] two months of very competitive basketball with around 20-28 total games and a good fraction at home while becoming “Champion.”

MLS has a best of 3 in the round of 16 but is otherwise single elimination rounds? Maybe as low as 1 home playoff game (in that round of 16) for a team that squiggles into the playoffs as this year’s REVs edition would? I guess they’d have to win 6 games to take the Cup? A good streak but it doesn’t make me feel convinced they are THE best team in the league. Anyway, MLS seems to be almost exclusively about 18 teams playing approximately 6 games. Not very exciting IMHO. Cut the Leagues cup out, end the season a month earlier, put fewer teams into the playoffs (4 per division) and play MORE post-season games with the extra time you made up.

Please

 

Well, that's not going to happen.

 

I agree the regular season needs to be more exciting, but maintaining the current setup with just 8 teams making the playoffs would create a lot of meaningless games among bad teams in the back half of the season.

Here's a crazy idea for an ultimate, post-expansion version of MLS:

Two "pots" of 18 teams each. Each season in Pot 1, 7 teams make the playoffs, and the bottom 7 are relegated to Pot 2. And in Pot 2, the top 2 play face off to claim the final playoff spot, and the top 7 are promoted to Pot 1. We'd get the excitement of pro/rel, we'd get a lot more meaningful games, and all 36 teams (even those in Pot 2) could still dream of an MLS Cup at the start of the season (albeit with less probability for the Pot 2 teams, which is why getting promoted or relegated would be meaningful).

By calling them "pots" instead of divisions, MLS could market them all as top-flight MLS games. And the large number of teams promoted/relegated each season would make it less likely for teams to languish forever in Pot 2. Owners wouldn't have to fear getting "relegated into oblivion," and they'd benefit from the more exciting product attracting new fans.

IDK, it's probably crazy - but it would be a way for MLS to have its cake and eat it too.

(You could also have 1 "interpot" game each year, for the sake of ensuring rivalry games happen.)

 

We all can (and should) decide what we value most, but we should also be clear that clubs, coaches and players are all incentivized most to value MLS Cup far ahead of any other goal.

That's why Steve Nicol could never be bothered to start something like a first team in early round USOC games.