Okay, not really going out on a limb, but with this weekends results I would say if RSL wins these last 2 home games they will likely end up in 2nd. If they don't win both, they will almost certainly finish 4th or 5th.
We may have a better chance of getting two wins first against Houston then in Vancouver. LA is going to be a tough match.
Kinda bonkers with 3 games left only one team in the west has seen up a playoff spot and in the east there's only one spot left.
EASTERN CONFERENCE 1. NYCFC- 58PTS - 31GP - 3GR - 1 HOME - 2 AWAY 9/25 vs Atlanta United 9/29 @ New England 10/6 @ Philadelphia 2. ATL - 54PTS - 31GP - 3GR - 1 HOME - 2 AWAY 9/25 @ NYCFC 9/29 @ Montreal 10/6 vs New England 3. PHI - 52PTS - 31GP - 3GR - 1 HOME - 2 AWAY 9/25 @ San Jose 9/29 @ Columbus 10/6 vs NYCFC 4. DCU- 48PTS - 32GP - 2GR - 1 HOME - 1 AWAY 9/29 @ NYRB 10/6 vs FC Cincinnati 5. NYRB - 47PTS - 32GP - 4GR - 1 HOME - 1 AWAY 9/29 vs DC United 10/6 @ Montreal 6. TFC - 46PTS - 32GP - 3GR(2MLS) - 1 HOME - 1 AWAY 9/25 vs Montreal (CC) 9/29 @ Chicago 10/6 vs Columbus 7. NER - 41PTS - 31GP - 3GR - 1 HOME - 2 AWAY 9/25 @ Portland 9/29 vs NYCFC 10/6 @ Atlanta 8. CHI - 38PTS - 32GP - 2GR - 1 HOME - 1 AWAY 9/29 vs Toronto 10/6 @ Orlando 9. MTL - 37PTS - 32GP - 3GR(2MLS) - 2 HOME - 0 AWAY 9/25 @ Toronto (CC) 9/29 vs Atlanta 10/6 vs NYRB 10. ORL - 36PTS - 32GP - 2GR - 1 HOME - 1 AWAY 9/29 @ FC Cincinnati 10/6 vs Chicago 11. CLB - 35PTS - 32GP - 2GR - 1 HOME - 2 AWAY 9/29 vs Philadelphia 10/6 @ Toronto WESTERN CONFERENCE 1. LAFC - 65PTS - 31GP - 3GR - 2 HOME - 1 AWAY 9/25 vs Houston 9/29 @ Minnesota 10/6 vs cRapids 2. SEA - 50PTS - 32GP - 2GR - 1 HOME - 1 AWAY 9/29 @ San Jose 10/6 vs Minnesota 3. MINN - 49PTS - 31GP - 3GR - 2 HOME - 1 AWAY 9/25 vs Sporting KC 9/29 vs LAFC 10/6 @ Seattle 4. LAG - 48PTS - 31GP - 3GR - 1 HOME - 2 AWAY 9/25 @ RSL 9/29 vs Vancouver 10/6 @ Houston 5. RSL - 47PTS - 31GP - 3GR - 2 HOME - 1 AWAY 9/25 vs LA Galaxy 9/29 vs Houston 10/6 @ Vancouver 6. FCD - 45PTS - 32GP - 2GR - 1 HOME - 1 AWAY 9/29 @ cRapids 10/6 vs Sporting KC 7. SJE - 44PTS - 31GP - 3GR - 2 HOME - 1 AWAY 9/25 vs Philadelphia 9/29 vs Seattle 10/6 @ Portland 8. POR - 44PTS - 31GP - 3GR - 2 HOME - 1 AWAY 9/25 vs New England 9/29 @ Sporting KC 10/6 vs San Jose
The East The biggest game of the season for the East is on Wednesday. With a draw or win, NYC locks up the top seed and can finish the season on the road without much pressure to pick up more points. If Atlanta can find a way to win on the road, short rest, without Josef then its all theirs for the taking given they have a much easier schedule to finish the season. Philly should lock in the top 3 and maybe even look to jump ATL for that second spot this week with two tough, but winnable, road games. That one at San Jose is really big for both teams, but in differing ways (playoff positioning vs playoff life) Spots 4-6 are a complete toss up. If I had to bet, I'd say it goes NYRB, DC, TFC but who knows. TFC has their CC game midweek that I think holds them back from really threatening for 4th. NYRB and DC play this weekend which should be a battle to host their playoff game against each other in a few weeks time. The Revs have the inside track on the final playoff spot, but have arguably the hardest remaining schedule in the league given the travel and quality of opponents. They might have already reached enough points to secure that last playoff spot, though, given the schedules that the rest of the East has. I do think it would be hilarious if Orlando won out and somehow, after how terrible they've been, found a way into the playoffs on the last day. The West They're the top seed in the league, but I'd be in panic mode if I were an LAFC supporter. The bottom has fallen out of the squad and they look so weak of late. They need a statement run over the rest of the season to get their mojo back. Otherwise someone is going to do to them what we did last year in the playoffs. Seattle held onto spot 2 for another week, though not for lack of trying to lose it. I have a hard time seeing them not finish in a spot that hosts a playoff, but I have no idea which of those 3 spots it'll be. Both games they have left are really hard to bet on as the other team will be in the thick of the playoff battle. I think they get 4 points and finish at 54. Minnesota has a schedule that will really test how legit they are to finish the season. I imagine they'll get full points against SKC, even on short rest, and then will have their biggest game of the season against LAFC. A win there and I think the 2 spot is all theirs, but that is a really tall order. Ending at Seattle is shaping up to be a really big game. I think they end a point behind Seattle at 53 The Gals have one big test to finish the season (RSL midweek) and then have two games they should max out on. I think Freddy managed the team well enough to get the full 3 against LA so the Gals finish at 54 points and own the tiebreaker over Seattle with more wins. This is the biggest week of the season for RSL. Anything short of 6 points against LA and Houston and we're on the road in the playoffs. If we pull that off - which I am optimistic about - then we finish at Vancouver needing a win to secure 2nd. A draw would put us in a three way tie, based on my scenarios, with LA and Seattle and would make that a giant mess. We'd have 16 wins, so would finish 3rd behind LA (17 wins) but ahead of Seattle (15 wins). It would be very fitting for the West to have spots 2-4 at the same number of points. Dallas missed their chance to fight for a hosting spot by dropping points against NYC. They get a revitalized cRapids team and a SKC team that wants points to end the season so I see them only end with 3 more points - 48pts on the year. San Jose and Portland seem to be in a fight to fall out of the playoffs. Portland is so bad at home that I actually think it works against them. San Jose could very easily not get another point this season - though I think they actually get a win against Philly given the travel and congestion and then a point against Seattle. I think Portland actually follows the same path in points this week (4 over 2 games) and we see both at 48 with the last game of the season against each other.
The Dynamo game now looms as very important. Besides that, we need a lot of help to finish in the top four.
And Portland just went up on New England. We can be caught on points by both of them. We'd have identical records; our GD is +3 and assuming one goal wins, they'll both be on +2 so we'd be 4th. But if they won 2-0 and we were all on +3, we drop to 6th on goals scored.
Holy cow, last second penalty to New England to get an unlikely tie, five minutes into a four minute stoppage time session . . . goal! 2-2. So we stay ahead of Portland at least.
Still a long shot, but it would be kind of neat to see Robin Frasers club finish of this miraculous turnaround and make the playoffs.
I'm guessing LAFC rests players because what exactly do they have to play for... and with the form FCD has had of late... The tricky thing for the cRapids is that San Jose will likely take points off Portland
LAFC is playing to break the points record, and for Vela to hold the goals record alone. They get a bye that none of the other West Coast teams get. Should be an interesting game.
EASTERN CONFERENCE 1. NYCFC- 61PTS 10/6 @ Philadelphia 2. ATL - 55PTS 10/6 vs New England 3. PHI - 55PTS 10/6 vs NYCFC 4. DCU- 49PTS 10/6 vs FC Cincinnati 5. NYRB - 48PTS 10/6 @ Montreal 6. TFC - 47PTS 10/6 vs Columbus 7. NER - 45PTS 10/6 @ Atlanta WESTERN CONFERENCE 1. LAFC - 69PTS 10/6 vs cRapids 2. MINN - 53PTS 10/6 @ Seattle 3. SEA - 53PTS 10/6 vs Minnesota 4. LAG - 51PTS 10/6 @ Houston 5. RSL - 50PTS 10/6 @ Vancouver 6. POR - 46PTS 10/6 vs San Jose 7. FCD - 45PTS 10/6 vs Sporting KC 8. SJE - 44PTS 10/6 @ Portland 9. cRp - 42PTS @ LAFC
The East No playing for playoff spots on the last day in the East, but positioning is still very much up in the air for everyone except NYC. It'll be interesting to see if NYC rests players against Philly. Regardless, I expect the Union to pick up the full 3 points and force ATL to have to win against the Revs. DC has the easiest game of anyone in the league and should lock in that 4th spot in the East up. I expect Montreal to give NYRB a game and TFC jumps them on the last day for a matchup with DC in the playoffs. It should end with NYC having a bye, then ATL vs New England (again), Philly vs NYRB, and DC vs TFC in the first round. The West It took way longer than it should have, but it looks like LAFC will actually beat the league point total. Kinda sad that it is at the last day with how dominant they have been. I'd be concerned that the team has lost so much form over the past month. The Minnesota v Seattle game is massive for a whole lot of reasons. I expect both teams to go at it like it's life or death as a draw really doesn't help either team if the Galaxy are to pull off a win. Speaking of the Galaxy, how the hell do you go from dominating us to losing 4-3 to ********ing Vancouver at home?! This team makes no sense. Still, I fully expect them to get 3 points at Houston and lock in a home playoff game. Which puts us in a really hard spot. In order to play at home we have to win, at the very least, at Vancouver. That alone is a tall order. I expect Vancouver will be playing for some contracts and will want to end a shitty season on a less shitty note. The worst we can finish is 5th, but going to any of Minnesota (guaranteed loss), LA Galaxy (we don't matchup well) and Seattle (probably the best of the 3 for us) just doesn't sound like a recipe for success. Spots 6 and 7 are going to be really fun to watch play out. Portland is playing at home which means they will struggle mightily - especially against a San Jose side that will want to beat them for any chance of making the playoffs themselves. FCD has done their typical late season fade and now look in real danger of not even qualifying. SKC doesn't have anything to play for expect spoiler which, in a way, is more than enough. I added in the cRapids given they still haven't been eliminated. I don't think they'll pick up the full 3 points in LA, like they need to, but this season has been weird as hell so who knows. How I think it ends: LAFC with the bye, Seattle hosting San Jose, LA Galaxy hosting Portland, and Minnesota hosting RSL.
Out of all of this I wonder if the Crapids have the most to be excited about moving forward. To be still playoff eligible going into the last game of the season this year after their dismal start is pretty amazing. If they luck into the playoffs next week, wow. Unlike the other teams in the west in the playoff hunt they probably didn’t really have anything to stress about. Just play soccer and see what happens.
Yup, but both clubs need to play to win, especially since so many other matches will impact them. It’s going to be a fun final day.
exactly. The only team that really benefits from the draw is Minnesota as is locks them into a home game as the higher seed. My guess is Seattle comes up guns blazing and wins big. Galaxy win big. And we screw the pooch and draw or lose in Vancouver.
What sucks is that RSL can't go down one position and probably wont be able to jump to 3rd so the only hope is for LA to lose and RSL win which with the GD should put RSL in 4th and a home game. One home game and then a road game throttling at LAFC would be about the best I see for RSL in the playoffs. And one more home game would be fine with me. Two more home games would be something pretty special which this season and team is definitely not. They are something though. RSLTID