Normally, I prewrite this column before the matchday with a few blanks since I have a rough idea of what I am going to cover. With the potential of clinching a playoff berth last night, I decided to just let everything flow out after returning from McKalla, and I sure didn’t expect to stay up until well past midnight!
I didn’t expect to see rain delays in both Orlando and Austin last night or Houston beating LAFC with Steve Clark standing on his head, but that’s what we got. At least we were able to get all of the matches played even though it turned into a later night for everyone involved.
That being said, this end result was disappointing in losing a match 2-1 with so many missed opportunities for the Verde and Black. It’s even worse when a win would have clinched a playoff spot and gotten us within 3 points of LAFC. However, there is still a comfortable margin for 2nd place and a win in any of the 6 final matches this season would clinch a playoff spot (or having Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver losing a single match). With Colorado’s loss in Nashville, another team was eliminated from finishing above us tonight.
| Team | Magic Number |
| Sporting Kansas City | ELIMINATED from finishing above Austin FC |
| Houston Dynamo | ELIMINATED from finishing above Austin FC |
| San Jose Earthquakes | ELIMINATED from finishing above Austin FC |
| Colorado Rapids | ELIMINATED from finishing above Austin FC |
| Seattle Sounders | 1 |
| Vancouver Whitecaps | 2 |
| Portland Timbers | 3 Clinch Playoff Birth |
| Nashville SC | 7 |
| FC Dallas (Frisco) | 8 |
| LA Galaxy | 9 Clinch Home Playoff Match |
| Real Salt Lake | 10 Clinch US Open Cup Bye |
| Minnesota United | 12 Clinch 2 Seed (Potential Second Home Playoff Match) |
| LAFC | Needs 13 points to eliminate us |
We’ll have an update on Labor Day after the next weekend of matches. On paper, the trip to Nashville on Saturday looks remarkably difficult on short rest. However, we are talking about the MLS here where nothing makes sense, so that’s why we continue to watch and see what happens. Seattle (home to Houston), Portland (home to Atlanta), and Vancouver (away to San Jose) all play on Sunday, so clinching a playoff spot is in our own hands on Saturday evening in Nashville. A win on Saturday clinches us at least 6th place in the West as Nashville would fall behind us on the wins tiebreaker.