For the first time in 2016, the Seattle Sounders are above the red line.
Seattle’s 1-0 win against the Chicago Fire on Wednesday night pulled them into a tie with the Portland Timbers on points. The Sounders, who hold a game in hand on the Timbers, are currently ahead of their Cascadia rivals based on the wins tiebreaker.
Should the Sounders hang onto to the sixth spot (or move up to fifth, for that matter), it’d mark one of the greatest turnarounds in MLS history. Seattle were 6-12-2 after their 3-0 loss to Sporting Kansas City on July 24, a full 10 points behind Vancouver for the sixth and final playoff spot in the West.
Two days after the loss at SKC, Seattle replaced Sigi Schmid with Brian Schmetzer. Star midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro made his debut in a draw against LA the next weekend.
You already know what happened next.
The Sounders are 6-1-3 in their 10 games since Schmetzer took over and Lodeiro debuted, erasing that 10 point gap to rise from ninth in the West all the way to sixth. It’s been an incredibly impressive run and, if the Sounders qualify for their eighth straight postseason, it would go down in league annals as one of the best late-season turnarounds of all-time.
Oddly enough, the Sounders already hold one of the most remarkable turnarounds in MLS history. On July 11, 2010, Seattle were in seventh-place in the West with a less than stellar 4-8-4 record. They kicked it into gear in the second half of the season, however, posting a 10-2-2 mark the rest of the way to finish fourth in the conference and qualify for the postseason.
Columbus made another one of the league's most impressive turnarounds all the way back in 1996. Crew SC were 6-16 through 22 games in the league’s inaugural season, but climbed out of the Eastern Conference cellar with a 9-1 record in their final 10 matches to finish fourth and qualify for the playoffs.
Those are far from the only two dramatic runs to the playoffs in MLS history, however. A few other notable late season turnarounds are listed below, courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau:
Year |
Team |
Record before run (Place) |
Finish (Place) |
|---|---|---|---|
1996 |
CLB |
6-16 (5) |
9-1 (4) |
1996 |
TB |
14-12 (1) |
6-0 (1) |
1997 |
LA |
10-16 (4) |
6-0 (2) |
1999 |
DAL |
11-12 (4) |
8-1 (2) |
2002 |
NE |
7-14-1 (5) |
5-0-1 (1) |
2003 |
NE |
6-9-8 (5) |
6-0-1 (2) |
2004 |
DC |
6-9-9 (4) |
5-1-0 (2) |
2005 |
COL |
5-11-3 (4) |
8-2-3 (3) |
2005 |
SJ |
3-3-6 (3) |
15-1-4 (1) |
2010 |
SEA |
4-8-4 (7) |
10-2-2 (4) |
