The MLS regular season standings table changes like a swift tide inundating the flats along the Puget Sound and then sweeping back into open water. Until the final week of the season, there’s typically very little decided in the way of positioning for the MLS Cup Playoffs. To an outside observer, it can resemble a roulette wheel.
Just look at either conference. In the Eastern Conference, there are five teams within four points of one another at the bottom of the conference, each of which has serious designs of snapping up the sixth and final playoff spot. At the top, five teams are within striking distance of the No. 1 seed in the East. The West is perhaps even more of a jumble. Every playoff team is within six points of one another, and the San Jose Earthquakes, the first team below the red line right now, is just two points adrift.
There are no sure things in this league. And veteran first-year rightback Tyrone Mears has discovered that for himself this year.
Mears makes it a point to not observe the league standings insofar as the team is either in or out of the playoffs. Beyond that? Just win.
“Certainly in England I would [pay close attention to the standings], with the small amount of games, and obviously in England it’s about the places you finish, finishing one or two or whether you want to qualify for Europe,” Mears said. “I think here it’s a little bit different with the playoffs. For me, as long as you’re finishing in the playoffs, you’ve got as good a chance as anyone to win the MLS Cup.”
And home advantage for the top seeds?
“That doesn’t matter,” Mears said. “As long as we’re in the playoffs, everybody’s healthy and we’re in good form, that’s all I ask.”
Mears is beginning to get his wish. Just two weeks ago, Seattle was sitting outside the postseason picture in the West with a difficult Cascadia Cup fixture against the Portland Timbers looming. Now, Seattle’s on a modest two-game win streak, and they’ve leapt from seventh to fourth in two large bounds: once in a 2-1 win over Portland and again in a 2-1 win over Toronto FC last week.
Suddenly, Sounders FC is within outside striking distance of a Supporters’ Shield trophy with six games left in the season. Could it happen? It’s an outside shot, but it’s certainly not beyond the realm of the possible. By sweeping the rest of its games, Seattle could well lay claim to a second in a row, with the shield-leading LA Galaxy currently just five points ahead and level with Sounders FC on 28 games. Even short of that, Seattle could leap into first by the end of the season if results elsewhere fall right.
It’s a testament to the league’s swift tides that Seattle fans even have the luxury of discussion when it comes to the league’s loftiest regular season honorific. It wasn’t that long ago most were simply talking about making the playoffs.
“If you’re putting all that work in, let’s reward ourselves for that work,” Sounders FC Assistant Coach Brian Schmetzer said. “Absolutely [the players] are in a good spot. The team’s in a good spot. We’ll see where everything falls out.”
While Seattle Head Coach Sigi Schmid recovers from health-related issues before a return to the sideline, Schmetzer has handled training, and he helmed the sideline for the win over Toronto FC. That added another slight layer of uncertainty while the team returns to health for its critical matchup against San Jose this weekend. The Earthquakes are just outside the postseason picture, but they’re still within striking distance.
The good news for the team was that despite the constantly shifting sands in the standings, not much has changed in preparation this week. Schmetzer and Schmid’s longstanding relationship and similarity in coaching style made sure of that.
“We’re both German,” Schmetzer said with a wry smile. “Look, being around Sigi for a long time, I’ve certainly learned a lot. I have my own ideas, but we’re pretty compatible. We’ve won a lot of games together. There’s not a massive change when I take training. It might be a subtle change here or there. I think Ante (Razov) has come in and done a good job. I think Tommy Dutra is the best goalkeeper coach in the league. They have a lot of familiarity already.”
Consistency is a key for any team in the crucible of its season, and Sounders FC has been robbed of that luxury now for months. And while not every projected starter is likely to start against San Jose, the team could well travel with as close to a full complement of players as it has all season.
The MLS season is headed for a photo finish in just about every way possible. After all, a handful of teams barely in the playoff picture have a legitimate shout to enter the Supporters’ Shield race. So it goes in MLS. So even while the tempestuous waters of the standings roil and bubble, Sounders FC will rest easier knowing its own feet are perched on ever more solid ground as each week passes.
“It’s a special place,” Sounders FC General Manager & President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey said. “I know I feel lucky to be here. Just looking at Brian’s career, we have a couple of guys on the technical side who’ve been around a long, long time; players and coaches through all the iterations through USL and all the way up. I think too that our ownership are really loyal people. If you look on the business side there are some people who’ve been working here for quite a long time. I think that’s the sign of a healthy organization, and a happy one.”
