Plenty to Play of on Deadline Day
Only one playoff spot is up for grabs but three byes, several spots for homefield advantage are all there to play for on the league’s final week in the regular season. Nearly every game has an impact on the playoffs on what should be an excellent deadline day. Here’s what we’re watching on the day.
Anxiety In Columbus?
The Columbus Crew haven’t lost a game since August 5th, have rocketed up the standings and now have a real shot at the second seed and that all important bye. They get a win at New York City FC and that bye is a possibility, a home playoff game is a guarantee. Surely a team what has won so much recently is a trendy pick to make a run and their play is the talk of the league.
It’s not?
Why not? Oh yeah.
Columbus now has this huge relocation cloud over their head to the point where players have taken to twitter to discuss their affinity for playing in Columbus. That has to have some form of an effect on the team as they play in one of the most important games of their season. Will that affect them against a strong NYCFC side?
Last Playoff Spot
Three teams for one spot. I don’t need to tell you the math on that one. Right now San Jose and their incredible -22 goal differential are in the spot because for some reason that isn’t the tiebreaker. FC Dallas sits with the same amount of points and Real Salt Lake is a point behind.
The good news for all three is that they all get a chance to clinch the playoffs in front of their home crowd. San Jose and FC Dallas have a distinct advantage in who they are playing. San Jose gets Minnesota, Dallas plays the LA Galaxy. The only team playing someone with something to play for is Salt Lake, who is taking on Sporting Kansas City. Despite that Real Salt Lake is playing the best soccer of the three and looks most likely of getting three points.
Race For Byes
The bigger races are those for first round byes. Both conferences have four teams mathematically able to jump into one of those top four spots. Right now the only one locked in are the shield winning Toronto FC. In the East, second through fifth are able to and we already mentioned the NYCFC and Columbus matchup. Atlanta takes on Toronto at home and Chicago travels to Houston. There are any number of possibilities as all four teams could land in any of the four spots.
Out west there are two byes up for grabs. Headlined by the Vancouver and Portland matchup. That one is a little more simple, the winner gets a bye. If it ends in a draw then Vancouver gets one due to their tiebreaker over Seattle and Sporting KC. If Seattle gets a win they also get a bye, they’re taking on Colorado at home and that should be likely. Sporting Kansas City has the longest odds. They need a win and both Portland and Seattle to drop points. With both of those teams playing at home, that seems like a long shot.