In order we play
Toronto
Chicago
Toronto
NJRB
LA Galaxy
New England
NJRB
Sporting KC
Timbers
Colorado
Dynamo
Montreal
Chicago
New England
Columbus
4/15 decides supporters shield and are the three best teams.
LA is bottom third
New England x2 is bottom of east and bottom quarter.
NJRB x2 is out of playoffs in east but middle of pack in points.
Sporting KC is best in west and right behind us in rankings.
Timbers are right above NJRB and middle of pack.
Colorado is worse than New England 3rd from bottom.
Dynamo are right above timbers and in middle of pack.
Montreal Impact are bottom quarter
Columbus are high side of middle of pack.
Our schedule is then.
5/15 best in league.
4/15 are bottom feeders.
6/15 are in the middle somewhere. Tending towards the higher side of the middle.
Is our remaining schedue super hard, I don't think so, its probably average or a bit above average at best. But that's entirely based on points totals and not the form or possible reinforcements teams could bring in.
But if you really look at the table, the strength of schedule is kind of deceiving based on a straight ranking system. Near as I can tell a strength of schedule remaining of 1.41 + or - .1 is enough to encapsulate 13/22 teams. So really its not that NYCFC's schedule is massively weaker than everyone else's its that its ever so slightly weaker than the majority of teams in the league in a tight cluster. And the difference between the strongest and weakest schedule remaining is .53 points per game. In other words, enforced fnancial parity works bitches.
But we all knew that, since the supporters shield in MLS has never been won with more than 67 points. Which is about 26 less points than you typically need to win the premier league.