Minnesota United entered the season with the longest active playoff streak — four consecutive seasons — in a Western Conference that includes MLS Cup champions Seattle, Portland and both Los Angeles clubs.
Minnesota United's playoff streak has grown, but Adrian Heath and players want more
The Loons are the only team in the MLS Western Conference with four consecutive playoff appearances, but they have advanced past the first round just once, in 2020.
March 11, 2023 at 12:17AM
So what now as Saturday's home opener against New York Red Bulls approaches?
Playoffs again or more?
"I think it's always something more," Loons goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair said. "We've made the playoffs. I don't play to make the playoffs. I play to win something every year and I think that has to be the mentality for us."
The Loons have made the playoffs every year since their third MLS season in 2019, when they added veterans Ozzie Alonso, Ike Opara and Vito Mannone and an impressive draft class, among others.
They went from 10th place and out of the playoffs by 12 points one season earlier to fourth place and a home playoff game in the team's first season at Allianz Field.
They've made the playoffs all three seasons since then, but advanced from the first round only once. That was in 2020 when Argentine midfielder Emanuel Reynoso arrived in September and led them to the Western final at Seattle and the verge of the MLS Cup final.
Loons coach Adrian Heath, in one of his many English colloquialisms, proudly calls it "four years on the trot."
No other Western Conference team has a current playoff run of more than two seasons. Not two-time MLS Cup winner Seattle or 2015 MLS Cup winner Portland, both of which missed securing one of seven playoff spots last season. Both Los Angeles FC and LA Galaxy just missed out themselves the season before that.
The Loons stumbled down the stretch during a very uneven 2022 season. They went 0-4-1 in September and early October before they beat Vancouver 2-0 at home on the regular season's "Decision Day" to claim sixth place and a playoff spot.
They played FC Dallas to a 1-1 draw in a first-round away playoff game before losing on penalty kicks.
"I said at the end of last season, I don't know why people didn't think making the playoffs was any big feat," Heath said. "But when you consider that the likes of Portland and Seattle didn't make it, it just shows you how difficult it is."
Underdogs again
Three Eastern Conference teams own longer active playoff streaks: Saturday's home opener opponent New York Red Bulls' streak is 13 years, New York City FC's is seven and Philadelphia's is five. The Union's Jim Curtin is the only other active MLS coach who has reached the playoffs each of these last four seasons.
"It shows you it's not easy," Heath said. "Making the playoffs has to be the minimum requirement."
Apple TV's new crew of play-by-play announcers, analysts and other media pundits offered their preseason predictions and most everyone picked the Loons to finish 10th or worse in the West.
"Well, they had that the last four years, as I can remember," Heath said. "How did that go? It's up to us to prove them wrong, which we will do."
Heath's team started by winning at FC Dallas 1-0 in its season opener two weeks ago.
MLS has added four more playoff spots to this year's MLS Cup playoff format. The eighth and ninth teams from each conference now advance to a "wild card" play-in game.
The winner joins the conference's seven teams that earn a first-round playoff position. The top four get home field in two games of a three-game first round series.
"This year the system is a little different," Loons veteran defensive midfielder Wil Trapp said. "Beyond making the playoffs, we should shoot for the higher seed and to host. That always helps, right? The less games you play, the better."
There's also the upcoming CONCACAF Leagues Cup involving all 47 teams from MLS and Mexico's Liga MX in a World Cup-style tournament July 21-Aug. 19. Three clubs qualify for the 2024 CONCACAF Champions League. Seattle became the first MLS team to win that Champions League in 2022.
Add the U.S. Open Cup as well and there are more games and tournaments to win.
"There's some new competitions for us," St. Clair said. "You play to win trophies. That's why we do this. Of course, you can be happy making the playoffs, but I think it's time to take a step up."
'The starting point'
Heath predicts it'll take more than ever to make the playoffs a fifth consecutive season. He notes Portland spent $10 million to sign young Brazilian midfielder Evander, and Seattle is unlikely to miss the playoffs a second consecutive season. LAFC is the defending MLS Cup champ and Galaxy finished fourth in the West a year ago.
The Loons, in turn, start the season with their star, Reynoso, suspended without pay and still back home in Argentina.
"It's going to be a tough year for us," Heath said. "It will be tougher than it has been in the past. We'll have to play well and be more consistent. I want us to be more consistent than having to go win nine of 13 to get back in the picture, which is what we did last year."
Heath calls reaching the playoffs "the starting point" for a season in which St. Clair wants to bring home something shiny.
"For me, I'd rather miss the playoffs one year and win it the next versus making the playoffs four years in a row," St. Clair said.
Minnesota started only two strikers against Seattle, leaving Sang Bin Jeong and Joseph Rosales to provide the width behind Teemu Pukki and Kelvin Yeboah.
