Monday, October 13, 2008

Galaxy's road to the playoffs

Mathematically, the Galaxy are still alive for a playoff spot. How is this possible, you say, considering their absolutely dreadful season?

It is MLS after all, and everyone is alive with two games to go, Galaxy included.

So how does the league's best offensive/worst defensive team get into the postseason. It's complicated, but it's possible.


- Galaxy has to win at Houston and at home against FC Dallas. That would give them 38 points at season's end.
- Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas must draw this weekend. RSL must then lost to Colorado. That would give Real Salt Lake 37 points.
- An FC Dallas draw to RSL and loss to the Galaxy would give FC Dallas 36 points.
- Colorado must lose to Chivas USA on Sunday. With that and a win over RSL, that would give the Rapids 37 points.
- San Jose must not win out. San Jose actually has three games left and if they win out they'll have 39 points.

So there it is in a nutshell. Two wins and a lot of help. Not likely but possible. Reason enough for Galaxy fans to keep hope alive.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This blog should be re-named,
"Anything but Chivas USA" and this thread,
"Playoff math for Galaxy fans"

Anonymous said...

Great concise breakdown. Thanks. Two things to add to it--

The RSL/FCD game doesn't have to be a tie. If Dallas wins vs. RSL, but LA wins out, they'd be tied on points and LA would have the tiebreaker. So a tie or FCD win would work.

And, while getting the 3rd spot in the West is the best scenario, the Galaxy are still mathematically alive to grab one of the two wild-card spots. But that would require several teams in the East not winning either of their final 2 games. Long-shot, but still on the table. For now....