Real Salt Lake’s official playoff picture

The following information is provided by the Real Salt Lake Front Office:
RSL’s Race to the Playoffs (includes Sunday’s MLS results):

If the season ended today, the teams shown in bold below would qualify for the playoffs. Their current points (in parentheses), and games remaining [in brackets] are as follow:

Eastern Conference:    Western Conference: 

1. Columbus (54) [2] **                               1.  Houston (44) [3] *
2. New England (43) [2] *                            2.  Chivas USA (42) [2] *^
3. Chicago (43) [2] *                                     3.  Real Salt Lake (36) [2]
4. New York (36) [2] – Wild Card #1         4.  FC Dallas (35) [2]       
5. Kansas City (36) [2] – Wild Card #2     5.  Colorado (34) [2]
6.D.C. United (34) [2]                                     6.  LA Galaxy (32) [2]
7. Toronto FC (32) [2]                                    7.  San Jose (30) [3]

* Clinched playoff berth
** Clinched home field advantage (and MLS Supporters Shield)
# NY holds tie-breaker over KC (head-to-head)
^ CHV guaranteed at least #2 seed in West (holds head-to-head tie-breaker over RSL)

RSL Clinching Scenarios for Saturday:

1) A win v. FC Dallas on Saturday AND

•   a Colorado loss or
  draw @ Chivas USA on Sunday [RSL clinches West’s #3 seed because no other team in West could reach 39 points except San Jose (RSL wins head-to-head tie-breaker over SJ)]
  

2) A draw v. FC Dallas on Saturday AND

•   A win @ Colorado on 10/25 (RSL clinches West’s #3 seed because no other team in West could reach 40 points)

*** RSL could also clinch a berth with a loss v. FC Dallas on Saturday AND

•  A win @ Colorado on 10/25 and an FC Dallas loss @ LA Galaxy on 10/26 [RSL clinches West’s #3 seed on final day (RSL-39, FCD-38, COL-could finish no higher than 37)] OR
  

•  A win @ Colorado on 10/25 and either a loss and tie or two losses by NY or KC and any point lost by DC across those three teams’ last two contests (RSL would secure a Wild Card spot on 39 points)
  

My playoff opinions

I will post my playoff opinions later tonight or early Tuesday, one thing is clear a win on Saturday is vital to the playoff picture being clear. A win vs. a loss on Saturday means a 60 percent swing in RSL’s playoff chances. The best chance RSL has at making the playoff is to simply “just win baby” as the famous Al Davis would say.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

This entry was posted on October 13, 2008 at 7:19 pm and is filed under The soapbox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.