High stakes games in places like LA, New York, Seattle, Salt Lake and Columbus are intriguing and attractive; if ever MLS had an exciting product to sell, these playoffs are it. With the expanded DP rule in place and more money than ever being spent on name players, the playoffs shake out as a battle between the richer clubs like New York, LA, and Seattle who took advantage of the rule and the more frugal teams in Columbus, Salt Lake, and Dallas.
With a round to go, the fortunes of the eight playoff clubs in their final matches will be worth watching intently; like a batch of football odds fluctuating over the course of a week, the combination of match-ups and form heading into the playoffs will ultimately determine the favorites. RSL is the only top team to win this past weekend; can they beat Colorado and carry it through? LA is coming off of a loss to that same Colorado team; can they rebound and lock up the top seed? Will New York find their stride against New England on Thursday night, a game with zero playoff implications?
Let's not forget that CONCACAF Champions League pops up again this week, meaning that Columbus (on the road in T&T), Seattle (at home), and RSL (at home) all have midweek matches that could impact their final week preparations and ultimately their playoff seeding. Seattle has already been eliminated from advancing in the CCL, a fact that may actually help them; there's little impetus to play a full-strength squad in their final group match with Saprissa.
The first round match-ups will play a huge role in who gets through, which is why the final week of the season has so much riding on it. Should Seattle remain in the fourth spot in the West, for example, they'll have to face LA or RSL in the opening round. A fifth place finish means crossing over the East and facing a slightly less-intimidating Crew side.
The playoffs match-ups as of the moment, noting that they'll certainly change in some way:
| Eastern Conference | Western Conference |
New York Red Bulls (1E) San Jose Earthquakes (6W) Columbus Crew (2E) Colorado Rapids (5W) | LA Galaxy (1W) Seattle Sounders (4W) Real Salt Lake (2W) FC Dallas (3W) |
Of those ties, two involve DP's and two do not. If LA and Seattle do meet, it will certainly be one of the richest (if not the richest) playoff match-ups in league history. Never mind that the silly conference switching rules would have one of the league's marquee clubs out in the first round; should LA manage to sell out the HDC, the two legs will combine to have nearly 60,000 fans watching.
On the other end of the money spectrum is a potential RSL-FC Dallas clash, involving a grand total of zero DPs and two management teams using scouting and smart signings to build contenders. RSL needs another run, and possibly another title, to validate themselves as leading MLS franchise; while holding on to Alvaro Saborio may require dipping into the DP waters next year, they are for now a model franchise without a new-era expense sheet. Their success is a blueprint for smaller market clubs that becomes more attractive with every achievement they reach.
The West side of the bracket, as it stand, is a study in MLS spending trends with a Conference Final that would pit a big spenders against thriftier side.
As mentioned, the likelihood that at least a few of the playoff match-ups change is fairly high, but there's reason to hope that things stay the way they are; the wacky conference-switching rules may unfairly penalize certain teams, but they could make for incredible first round show downs between clubs with divergent ideas on how to build MLS winners.
