Well despite being our compound’s resident traveler, I should have known better than to fly out to Seattle to assume that we could get a result in Cascadia. Hopefully, we can get a win in Vancouver in a few weeks because I would really like to get the road win in Cascadia monkey off our back before it becomes a multiyear trend. Heck, even the West is on fire on my flight back to Austin, so this flight, which is usually pretty beautiful has turned into an ugly one.
Since I started writing these columns, I haven’t been doing as many travel reviews of cities and stadiums. As there was nothing to write home about on the pitch for our guys in Verde and Black, I will say that Lumen Field is outstanding for an NFL venue, even if it struggles a bit as an MLS venue. The huge concourses filled with craft beer options (I drank both a Seahawks themed wheat beer and a Seapine IPA at the match), Din Tai Fung (the veggie buns were a league above Bao’d Up), Ivar’s clam chowder and garlic fries, and more treats was impressive. The stadium’s central location is a huge advantage, as well.
Then again, the downsides of this venue are numerous. While the third deck was closed for this match, even the seats in the second deck are quite far away from the pitch. I think we were a bit closer than Charlotte but it’s almost in binoculars territory up there. The artificial turf pitch is less than ideal. The Sounders don’t allow horns in their supporters section but they have a front office paid band called the Sound Wave that occasionally plays in the opposite end of the stadium from their supporters. Even with over 34,000 in attendance in an easy 3-0 win for the home side, the atmosphere was not as strong as it could have been. I did appreciate the Sounders for letting us bring a small drum into the supporters section.
Well, most of you want to see the Magic Number Table, so let’s get to it.
| 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 |
| Vancouver Whitecaps | ELIMINATED from finishing above Austin FC |
| Seattle Sounders | 1 |
| Portland Timbers | 3 Clinch Playoff Birth |
| LA Galaxy | 5 |
| Nashville SC | 5 |
| Real Salt Lake | 5 Clinch Home Playoff Game |
| Minnesota United | 6 Clinch US Open Cup Bye |
| FC Dallas | 8 Clinch 2 Seed (Potential Second Home Playoff Match) |
| LAFC | Needs 4 points to eliminate us |
Since a bunch of other teams in the league keep losing, two wins in the final 4 matches would clinch the 3rd seed in the West. Three wins still locks up the 2 seed. A win against RSL on Wednesday night would clinch the 6 seed at minimum and could get clinch the 5th seed if LAFC wins in Minnesota on Tuesday night. If Vancouver beats the Galaxy as well on Wednesday night, we could clinch a home playoff game before Midnight on Wednesday. A LAFC win in Minnesota would secure them the Western Conference #1 seed. Then again, our hopes have been frequently dashed in the last few weeks.
While we haven’t looked like a team that should be anywhere close to the 3rd best team in the league over the past 3 matches, I have gotten some demands to show what the magic number for clinching 3rd place looks like. As a result, we have this table below.
Table for the remaining Eastern Conference Teams that can clinch 3rd Place; So far New England, Toronto FC, Atlanta United, Chicago Fire, Charlotte FC, and DC United have already been eliminated.
| Team | Magic Number |
| Inter Miami | 1 |
| FC Cincinnati | 4 |
| NYCFC | 5 |
| Columbus Crew | 6 |
| Orlando City | 7 |
| NY Red Bulls | 9 |
| Montreal | 15 (They need 11 to eliminate us) |
I’ll be back on Thursday with another update, and hopefully it will be an uplifting one, because I am sick of writing about these near misses.