What to know about Whitecaps’ MLS playoff road ahead

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The Vancouver Whitecaps stand on the precipice of sealing first place in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference.

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Here’s what you need to know about where thing stands for the Caps going into their final game of the regular season, and beyond, into the playoffs:

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One point

The simplest thing to understand about Saturday’s home match at B.C. Place against FC Dallas is if the Caps secure even just one point, they will finish the season as first in the West.

That’s because LAFC lost to Austin on Sunday, giving away the game in hand they held on the conference-leading Caps. The most the Angelenos can now get is 62 points, one shy of the 63 the Whitecaps currently have.

Second-placed San Diego has 60 points, so a win for the Californians combined with a loss by the Caps would swing first place to San Diego. But even a single point from a draw against Dallas will seal the conference title for Vancouver. San Diego is in Portland on Saturday.

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Finishing first in the West would be an all-time best regular season finish for the Whitecaps, whose previous best finish was second place in 2015. They also finished third in 2017.

The wild card

The first-place team faces the winner of a mid-week wild-card match, to be played next Wednesday. The eighth- and ninth-placed teams in the Western Conference will play off, with the winner advancing to best-of-three first-round series against the first-placed team — either the Whitecaps or San Diego — just a few days later.

As you can see, finishing first has a huge benefit, as you will be facing a tired team.

Dallas could very well be that wild card team, as a late-season surge by the Texans has them sitting in eighth overall position going into Saturday’s game against the Whitecaps. They have 41 points, one point ahead of Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids. The San Jose Earthquakes are also still in the mix with 38 points.

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San Jose hosts Austin, RSL is in St. Louis, and Colorado hosts LAFC. Austin are currently the only team in this mix who have locked in a spot. St. Louis are out of the playoff picture. LA is in third position and would like to at least keep that spot.

Portland, who host San Diego, are in seventh place and would obviously like to avoid falling back into eight position. If Dallas were to beat the Whitecaps and Portland were to lose to SD, Dallas would finish seventh because of either superior goal differential, or if they’re tied on that front, goals-for.

The path through the playoffs

Finishing first would also mean the Whitecaps would host the third game, if necessary, of their first-round series, as well as host the conference semi-final and conference final, should they advance that far.

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If the Whitecaps were to win all the way through the playoffs, and, this is important, beat Dallas to close the regular season, they would also get to host the MLS Cup final if the Philadelphia Union, who won the regular season supporters’ shield for the best record in the whole league, were to be knocked out of the playoffs.

But if the Caps only take a single point against Dallas, they would finish with 64 points, meaning that they could be overhauled by one or both of Cincinnati or Miami in the league standings. Both those eastern powers have 62 points going into the weekend.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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