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Mid-Season Playoff Matchups and Power Rankings

 We're roughly half way through the 2023 MLS season, if you don't count Leagues Cup of course. That made me think about what playoff matchups would look like if the season ended today. Some of the matchups may surprise you.

8-9 Play-in Games

Western Conference: (9) Sporting KC at (8) Portland This is an amazing matchup for the face SKC didn't win a single game until week 11. They are playing good soccer and rising up the standings. It's a little bit of a shock to see Portland here too as they haven't played particularly well this season.

Eastern Conference: (9) CF Montreal at (8) DC United Talk about a playoff matchup literally no one could have envisioned. Montreal was in a pretty obvious rebuild and finished it by trading Kamal Miller to Inter Miami in one of the craziest trades of all time. On the other side DC United have been terrible for a long time but have finally started to look like an actual soccer team under Wayne Rooney this season. 

First Round Matchups:

Eastern Conference:

(1) FC Cincinnati vs. (8/9) Montreal/DC This would clearly be Cincinnati's series to lose. They have been so good this year that I would probably say that about any team they matched up against. Expectations are going to be high in Cincy for the playoffs. 

(5) Atlanta United vs. (4) New England Revs This would be a great best of three series. Both teams have looked as good as anyone in the league, and both teams have had significant slumps. If Almada, Robinson, Buck and Jones are still around this could be an amazing matchup. 

(3) Philadelphia Union vs. (6) Columbus Crew Talk about intriguing matchups. Philly have been playing great lately, but I'm not certain I trust anyone in a best of three series against the Crew. They are young, talented and capable of beating anyone. 

(2) Nashville SC vs. (7) Orlando City Nashville would be the heavy favorite, but with all of the young talent Orlando has in McGuire, Kara, Torres, Angulo, Araujo, Gonzalez and Pereyra with a solid back line of Jansson, Antonio-Carlos and Mikey Halliday in front of Gallese I wouldn't be shocked if Orlando swept Nashville. 

Western Conference:

(1) St. Louis City SC vs. (8/9) Portland/Sporting KC It's just wild to think that halfway through the season the Western Conference playoffs would have to run through St. Louis. It makes you believe this team could continue to do special things. City Park is a wild atmosphere and this team can beat anyone. This scenario has them playing two veteran teams, so you'd have to wonder how this matchup would play out. 

(4) FC Dallas vs. (5) San Jose Quakes Maybe the best first round matchup. Either of these teams could win or get swept. They're incredibly evenly matched and it would be a highly entertaining three games between the two. I'm rooting for this matchup. 

(3) LAFC vs. (6) Vancouver Whitecaps I would expect this series to go much similar to the CCL series they played. LAFC is the better side, but anything can happen in the playoffs. I would also be shocked if LAFC end up with this low of a seed. 

(2) Seattle Sounders vs (7) Houston Dynamo If this series started today I would say that Houston should be the odds on favorite to win. Houston have been playing great, just torched LAFC 4-0 and Seattle is playing awful soccer right now. At this rate I wouldn't be shocked if this isn't an actual playoff matchup but I could see it being a 4-5 or 3-6 matchup instead of 2-7. Houston are climbing and Seattle are nearly free falling. 

That just got me excited for the second half of the season and the MLS Playoffs! We could see some great matchups and hopefully great soccer. Let's see how the power rankings compare to the seedings (NOTE: I won't be doing my usual recap on teams this week since we just talked about the top 18 teams in the league in potential playoff matchups)

Top 8:

1. FC Cincinnati 12-4-1 40 Points Last Week: 1

2. Nashville SC 9-5-3 32 Points Last Week: 3

3. St. Louis City SC 9-2-5 29 Points Last Week: 5

4. Philadelphia Union 9-3-5 30 Points Last Week: 2

5. Atlanta United 7-7-4 28 Points Last Week: 8

6. LAFC 7-5-2 26 Points Last Week: 4

7. San Jose Quakes 7-5-5 26 Points Last Week: 7

8. FC Dallas 7-5-6 26 Points Last Week: 6

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