The Sounders' Season Comes Down to Sunday in Vancouver
Eighth in the West, two points above the line with two matches left, Seattle heads to BC Place knowing the playoff math starts with three points.
The Seattle Sounders' playoff position is simple to describe and hard to hold: eighth place in the Western Conference, 43 points from an 11-11-10 record, two points above the playoff line with two matches to play.
Wednesday's 1-0 home loss to Houston tightened everything. Lucas Halter scored in the 26th minute off a Mateusz Bogusz corner, and the defeat was Seattle's first home loss to Houston — regular season or playoffs — in the club's history against the Dynamo, snapping a 13-1-5 run.
Sunday's match at Vancouver Whitecaps FC (12:30 p.m. Pacific, BC Place, on Apple TV) is the fulcrum. A win, combined with help elsewhere — a Portland loss or draw against Houston, or a Real Salt Lake loss at San Jose — can clinch Seattle's berth on the day, per the league's published scenarios.
Anything less sends the season to the last page of the calendar: Decision Day, Saturday, November 7, at home against LAFC, where the margin for error would be thin and the tiebreakers unkind.
The Sounders built their season on being hard to beat. The next two matches decide whether hard to beat was enough.
