Two Matches Left: Crew and FC Cincinnati Chase the East's Last Playoff Places

With two matches left in the MLS regular season, Ohio's two clubs occupy the Eastern Conference's two wild-card positions, and neither has clinched anything. FC Cincinnati is eighth with 43 points from 32 matches, and the Columbus Crew are ninth with 41. Both play at home on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET: Cincinnati hosts Philadelphia at TQL Stadium, and Columbus hosts D.C. United at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field.

The stakes are simple. The top seven teams in each conference go straight to Round One, a best-of-three series that begins Nov. 20. The eighth- and ninth-place teams meet in a single wild-card match on Nov. 18 for the right to face the conference's top seed. Finishing tenth ends the season.

Orlando City is seventh, level with Cincinnati on 43 points but ahead on the first tiebreaker, total wins, 12 to 11. Philadelphia, sixth on 47 points, has already qualified. Below Columbus, the New York Red Bulls and Toronto FC sit on 39, two points behind the Crew with the same two matches to play.

Columbus has already beaten Cincinnati twice this season, 2-1 in Columbus on July 25 and 2-0 at TQL Stadium on Oct. 18. The clubs do not meet again in the regular season, so if the table holds, the Nov. 18 wild-card match would be the third meeting. The Crew arrive in form after a 4-2 win over Toronto FC last Saturday, their fifth win in six matches. Cincinnati's last result was a 2-1 win over D.C. United on Oct. 21.

After Saturday, the Crew close the regular season at Chicago on Nov. 7, a 4 p.m. ET kickoff at Soldier Field against a Fire side that has already qualified. Cincinnati finishes at home the same afternoon against Nashville SC, the conference's top team, also at 4 p.m. ET. The regular season ends that day, with the playoffs running from Nov. 18 to MLS Cup on Dec. 18.

Standings are through matches played Oct. 28 and are from the league's published Eastern Conference table.