Playoff Pulse

By: Ian | October 8th, 2008

Well, what can I say, the past few weeks have been rough for Quakes fans. It wasn’t too long ago that it seemed as if our ticket to the playoffs was pretty much booked and ready to go. Since then, the West has decided to stop sucking (well, except for the Galaxy), and MLS refs have done their best to raise the bar for suckitude. What we’re left with now is yet another must-win game, this time against Chivas USA. I know I’ve said it for the past two or three games, but this one is the real deal. Lose this one and we can pretty much kiss the playoffs goodbye. Win it, and we’re back in it. But we could sure use some help from the rest of the league. Here’s your supporter’s guide for this weekend’s games:

New York - RSL: With both of these teams at 35 points, the best result would be a tie. However, with this being the first game in RSL’s new stadium, I would be surprised if they don’t come out pumped up and get a win from this one.

New England - KC: It would be nice if New England bury one of our competitors in the East.

Toronto - Dallas: We badly need Toronto to win this one, both because of the standings and to kill Dallas’ momentum.

Columbus - Chicago: Take a breather and ignore this one. Doesn’t matter to us.

D.C. - Houston: Houston is secure with their playoff spot, so let’s hope they do us a favor and beat D.C.

Colorado - L.A.: Ugh. Stuck in a situation where we actually have to go for a Galaxy win. I can’t quite bring myself to it though and would settle for a draw here.

Here’s what the table would look like if all the results went our way (with a game in hand):

Houston 46

Chivas 39

RSL 36

Colorado 35

Dallas 34

Quakes 33

Scum 30

And the wildcard race would look like this (let’s say a Col-Chi tie):

Columbus 54

New England 46

Houston 46