Every week this time of year, Major League Soccer issues \u201cplayoff scenarios\u201d \u2014 a bullet-point list of what it takes for a team to clinch a postseason berth that week.<\/p>\n
San Diego FC is not included on this week\u2019s list, but we\u2019ll make it simple for you:<\/p>\n
SDFC will make the playoffs if it beats the Seattle Sounders on Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium \u2026<\/p>\n
\u2026 and then wins \u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2026 and then wins again \u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2026 and then wins again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s getting late in the regular season, and the only way for SDFC to climb from 12th place to ninth in the Western Conference standings and make the playoffs is to start winning. Results like last week, when SDFC played to two ties, won\u2019t get it done.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have four games left,\u201d star striker Anders Dreyer said, \u201cand we will put everything together as good as possible and try to get as many points as possible to try to get into playoff position.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simply winning an MLS match, something SDFC has not done since (yes) Aug. 29, is hard enough.<\/p>\n
Winning four in a row \u2014 or even, say, three of four \u2014 will take a run of good form that\u2019s been mostly lacking in 2026.<\/p>\n
The top nine finishers in the Western Conference earn playoff spots. Five teams have already clinched spots, and two more teams \u2014 LAFC and the Sounders \u2014 can punch their tickets as soon as Saturday. (Seattle would need to beat SDFC and get losses or draws from Minnesota, Salt Lake, the Galaxy and Portland.)<\/p>\n
The Colorado Rapids (39 standings points) currently hold the ninth and final playoff spot, with Salt Lake City (36 points) within striking distance.<\/p>\n
SDFC sits in a three-way tie with Portland and Minnesota United with 34 points, but Seattle holds the tiebreaker because it has more regular-season wins (nine) than San Diego (eight). The proliferation of ties \u2014 SDFC has played to a draw 10 times, including a 3-3 tie with the Houston Dynamo and 2-2 tie with the LA Galaxy last week \u2014 complicates the playoff math.<\/p>\n
Though they\u2019ve been fit to be tied lately, SDFC is playing better soccer.<\/p>\n
MLS\u2019 expected goals metric said SDFC should have beaten the Dynamo, 3.3 goals to 0.9 goals, in last week\u2019s draw. SDFC outplayed the Galaxy three nights later, holding an expected-goals lead of 2.6 goals to 0.6.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a team, I think the last couple games \u2014 especially the last one \u2014 we\u2019re getting back to really close to our best. And I think as a group, we\u2019re starting to hit form,\u201d coach Mikey Varas said. \u201cWe have 100% belief and conviction \u2026 that we can win every game that we play. All we\u2019ve got to do now \u2014 we\u2019ve got to forget about what could be and focus on what\u2019s ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, that means beating a Seattle team that\u2019s traditionally been tough to beat. SDFC is 1-1-1 in three all-time matches against the Sounders, tying their most recent match 1-1 in May.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, a tie won\u2019t be good enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always tough games against Seattle,\u201d Dreyer said. \u201cIt\u2019s a good opponent; it\u2019s a team where we have to work very hard to earn three points.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Diego FC\u2019s playoff chase<\/p>\n
Nine Major League Soccer teams are battling for the final four spots in the Western Conference playoffs. Here\u2019s a look at each team, its record and remaining opponents:<\/p>\n
LAFC (12-9-10, 46 points)<\/p>\n
Playoff position: Currently in sixth place; the top nine teams make the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Remaining games: vs. LA Galaxy and Minnesota United, at Seattle Sounders<\/p>\n
Seattle Sounders (11-10-9, 42 points)<\/p>\n
Playoff position: Currently in seventh place.<\/p>\n
Remaining games: at SDFC, vs. Houston Dynamo, at Vancouver Whitecaps, vs. LAFC<\/p>\n
LA Galaxy (10-11-10, 40 points)<\/p>\n
Playoff position: Currently in eighth place.<\/p>\n
Remaining games: at LAFC, vs. Austin FC, at Real Salt Lake<\/p>\n
Colorado Rapids (11-13-6, 39 points)<\/p>\n
Playoff position: Currently in ninth place; would make the playoffs if the season ended today.<\/p>\n
Remaining games: vs. Vancouver Whitecaps, at San Jose Earthquakes, vs. Chicago Fire, at FC Dallas<\/p>\n
Real Salt Lake (10-14-6, 36 points)<\/p>\n
Playoff position: In 10th place; would miss the playoffs if the season ended today.<\/p>\n
Remaining games: vs. St. Louis SC, at Austin FC, at San Jose Earthquakes, vs. LA Galaxy<\/p>\n
Portland Timbers (9-14-7, 34 points)<\/p>\n
Playoff position: Two points out of the final playoff spot.<\/p>\n
Remaining games: vs. Charlotte FC, at. St. Louis City SC, vs. Houston Dynamo, at Austin FC<\/p>\n
San Diego FC (8-12-10, 34 points)<\/p>\n
Playoff position: Three points out of the final playoff spot; Portland currently owns the tiebreaker over SDFC by virtue of most wins.<\/p>\n
Remaining games: vs. Seattle Sounders, at Vancouver Whitecaps, at St. Louis City SC, vs. Sporting Kansas City<\/p>\n
Minnesota United (8-12-10, 34 points)<\/p>\n
Playoff position: Four points out of the final playoff spot; SDFC currently owns the second tiebreaker over Minnesota by virtue of goal differential.<\/p>\n
Remaining games: at Houston Dynamo, vs. Sporting Kansas City, at LAFC, vs. San Jose Earthquakes<\/p>\n
Austin FC (7-13-10, 31 points)<\/p>\n
Playoff position: Eight points out of the final playoff spot.<\/p>\n
Remaining games: at Sporting Kansas City, vs. Real Salt Lake, at LA Galaxy, vs. Portland Timbers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every week this time of year, Major League Soccer issues \u201cplayoff scenarios\u201d \u2014 a bullet-point list of what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,1254,76,75,79159],"class_list":["post-505705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-fc","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-seattle-sounders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}