2025 Major League Soccer: Regular Season Race For Postseason Heats Up
by Bradley Gibbs | by Tyler Doty
Which teams are currently fighting for the postseason place?
As things stand, in the Western Conference, the likes of San Diego, Minnesota and the Vancouver Whitecaps will all be heading straight into the last 16 of the playoffs. In the Eastern Conference, the same can be said for the Philadelphia Union and Cincinnati, while both Charlotte FC and Nashville SC look set to easily finish inside the all-important top seven.
For many teams, there’s still plenty to play for, make no mistake about that. Right now, Orlando, Inter Miami and the Columbus Crew are all inside the top seven in the east, but NYCFC and the Chicago Fire are close behind in the two additional places, while hot on the heels of that pair is the Red Bulls, who are just two points behind the Fire. The men from New Jersey will definitely feel that they can clinch a top-nine spot, though for the Revs, Atlanta United, Toronto FC, CF Montreal and DC United, the postseason ship has very much sailed.
Over in the west, in terms of those who definitely won’t make the postseason, it’s less clear cut.
Sitting in fourth on 44 points, the Seattle Sounders should be all good, but they have two teams close behind on 41 points in the form of LAFC and Austin, while the Portland Timbers are on 39.
It’s far from impossible that one of those four slips into the additional two places, with the Colorado Rapids and the San Jose Earthquakes sitting on 36 and 35 points respectively. Those two don’t have the extra places sewn up, though. The Dynamo are close behind on 33, currently sitting two points behind RSL and FC Dallas.
The postseason picture is far from clear, and with as many as seven games to go for some teams, there could be a fair amount of chopping and changing to come.
RSL to make a late charge
Right now, the RSL boys find themselves outside of the top nine by four points, which at first glance, looks like a sizable gap. However, Pablo Mastroeni’s men have two games in hand, and this is key. Win those two games in hand, even tie one of them, and they’re right in the mix.
RSL also has something of a defensive advantage over the few teams currently beating them in the race for a top-nine place. Mastroeni has his side well drilled and right now, this is a team that isn’t conceding many goals. Granted, they’re not scoring many either, but their defensive strength could be just what’s needed for them to grind out the points that will take them into the postseason, and if I was a betting man (which I most certainly am), I’d be supporting the men from America First Field to make a late charge, despite their low-scoring nature.
Surridge to stay ahead of the GOAT in the Golden Boot race?
There’s also an interesting race unfolding on an individual level. Right now, it is Sam Surridge who leads the hunt for the MLS Golden Boot, scoring 20 goals for Nashville so far this season.
Hot on the heels of the leader, though, is a player that many fans of the sport consider to be the greatest of all time. Now playing as supplier of chances as much as anything else, Lionel Messi has still shifted through the goalscoring gears this season for Inter Miami, notching 19 MLS goals so far, and after he notched a brace on international duty, we really shouldn’t be surprised if he finds the net with regularity for the Herons over the next month or so.
Current Golden Boot standings (as of October 12th):
- Sam Surridge - 20 Goals
- Lionel Messi - 19 Goals
- Dejan Joveljic - 17 goals
- Evander - 16 goals
- Tai Baribo - 16 goals
- Hugo Cuypers - 16 goals
- Denis Bouanga - 15 goals
- Eric Choupo-Moting - 15 goals
As we can see, it’s tight, which means that the race for the Golden Boot is nowhere near over. The likes of Denis Bouanga and Eric Choupo-Moting may be five goals off the leader, but there’s still time for such forwards to catch up, and let’s face it, if for some reason the goals dry up for Surridge and Messi over the next few weeks, one of those currently in the chasing pack could easily swoop in and steal the crowd at the last minute.
Personally, my money would be on Surridge to retain his lead all the way to the line in the top-scorer race. The men from Music City have some friendly-looking fixtures coming up, so don’t be surprised if the Englishman adds a few more goals to his tally, and if he does end the season in decent scoring form, he can clinch the title won by DC United’s Christian Benteke in 2024.
