2018 Schedule

[Ulrich]

For us, yes. I’m tired of the Orlando games, but there’s no better option. To give us the Revs means they drop either Montreal or Philly. MTL/ORL makes zero sense, so switch Philly to Orlando. It’s closer to Orlando than NYC, right?
Except then you have a major Northeast Corridor City who potentially is rival to 4 other Northeast teams and gets none of them, with assigned “rivals” in the Midwest (Columbus) and Florida instead. That’s way too unfair to Philadelphia. At least we have the Red Bulls.

If they really want to stay true, go the East Coast-West Coast route and give us a home/away every year with LAFC. Not local, but it’s always been about NYC/LA in sports, music, culture, celebrity, food, etc.

I realize a double game format between conferences is a big deviation from the norm, but whatever, it’s be the most watched matches every season.

Edit: to add, let RB play the same format against the Galaxy. One isn’t a NY team and the other isn’t a true LA team, but both feel entitled.

 

[Marito]

Somebody already asked this, but I didn't see a reply. Why is there a 3-week plus break after Sept. 29th? If the league's off for that long I would have guessed WC, but that's not it.

 

[Fantazma]

Somebody already asked this, but I didn't see a reply. Why is there a 3-week plus break after Sept. 29th? If the league's off for that long I would have guessed WC, but that's not it.

i think there is a FIFA week there and it may also be our "bye" week as well so that may all give that much time

 

[Marito]

i think there is a FIFA week there and it may also be our "bye" week as well so that may all give that much time

It's crazy to waste that amount of time, considering that you are risking an MLS cup on Dec 9th in, say, Montreal at, say, minus 5 degrees. Who the hell needs bye weeks.

 

[Fake Jew]

I don't get how MLS doesn't see a potential rivalry with Toronto but still think Orlando is going to be a thing.

 

[mgarbowski]

If they really want to stay true, go the East Coast-West Coast route and give us a home/away every year with LAFC. Not local, but it’s always been about NYC/LA in sports, music, culture, celebrity, food, etc.

I disagree that this is an existing thing in sports.
Not at all in the NFL.
Not at all in NHL.
Not at all in any college sport.
Minimally in MLB, but only because the Dodgers left Brooklyn, and Yankee fans (ie more than half of NYC) don't much care. The media would go crazy over a new Yankee/Dodgers World Series. I'm not sure average fans in either city would care at this point.
Minimally in the NBA, but based on little more than a single pair of championship series that are now 45-50 years gone. Since then, there is buzz in NY when the Lakers come to town but I'm not sure that has been consistently true in reverse. Due to quality Boston/LA has had more sustained heat than NY/LA since the 1950s.

This doesn't mean it can't work in MLS, but there's no real sports predecessor.

Outside of sports I agree there is a NY/LA rivalry in the larger culture. I think it is media driven -- and fascinating more to people within each industry rather than to the general public -- but I acknowledge it is real. Also, I suspect most people in between will yawn and tune out. They care much less about NY and LA than most people in those bubbles realize. The ones who care the most move to one of those cities. The ones who stay find the NY/LA stuff extremely tiresome.

 

[Marito]

Also because you can always make Montreal, Minny, etc. road-heavy in March, but you cannot postpone the MLS Cup if the team hosting is a semi-arctic one.

 

[Jon]

I don't mind the "rivalry" with Orlando. I know it's manufactured but we both came in at the same time and we got the Kreis thing going too.

 

[Kjbert]

I am OK with the Orlando thing. Great away game to travel to. The games have been fun to watch. They should be fun to watch this year with Klejstan and Dom Dwyer. There's the Kreis connection.

I would say that's a more natural second rival for us right now than New England. New England is a soccer wasteland

 

[Jon]

I am OK with the Orlando thing. Great away game to travel to. The games have been fun to watch. They should be fun to watch this year with Klejstan and Dom Dwyer. There's the Kreis connection.

I would say that's a more natural second rival for us right now than New England. New England is a soccer wasteland

Orlando is a great away game. Gonna be down in Florida that week anyway. Now I just have to figure out how to go to the game on my wife's birthday!

 

[Fantazma]

It's crazy to waste that amount of time, considering that you are risking an MLS cup on Dec 9th in, say, Montreal at, say, minus 5 degrees. Who the hell needs bye weeks.

i think every team gets a "bye week" because of the odd number of teams so there will be a weekend like this. I guess FO decided this was the best one.

 

[Kjbert]

Orlando is a great away game. Gonna be down in Florida that week anyway. Now I just have to figure out how to go to the game on my wife's birthday!

Fever Pitch over here...

 

[Jon]

i think every team gets a "bye week" because of the odd number of teams so there will be a weekend like this. I guess FO decided this was the best one.

You could call it a Yankees playoffs break. It could be the solution to the problem they had last year. Don't schedule games at home from the end of September through the World Series just in case they have any make up games or playoff games.

 

[ZYanksRule]

It's crazy to waste that amount of time, considering that you are risking an MLS cup on Dec 9th in, say, Montreal at, say, minus 5 degrees. Who the hell needs bye weeks.

There's an odd number of teams in the league, so one team is going to have a bye every week of the season. Literally impossible to avoid until Nashville comes in.

 

[Fantazma]

You could call it a Yankees playoffs break. It could be the solution to the problem they had last year. Don't schedule games at home from the end of September through the World Series just in case they have any make up games or playoff games.

yep...although if yankees to go WS then it becomes an issue

 

[mgarbowski]

Somebody already asked this, but I didn't see a reply. Why is there a 3-week plus break after Sept. 29th? If the league's off for that long I would have guessed WC, but that's not it.

Last year we had 2 games left after Sept 30. This year we have 2 games after Sept 29. So not all that different in that sense. But with the break the regular season ends a week later. Yet the MLS Cup has not moved a week later. So the playoffs are compressed, without an unnatural break in the middle, which everyone wanted.

Above I stated somewhere that there was no international break in FIFA this November to explain why the playoffs were shorter, but it appears I got that info from an outdated schedule. I now think there is one, so it is a mystery to me how they plan to handle that.

 

[Fantazma]

Last year we had 2 games left after Sept 30. This year we have 2 games after Sept 29. So not all that different in that sense. But with the break the regular season ends a week later. Yet the MLS Cup has not moved a week later. So the playoffs are compressed, without an unnatural break in the middle, which everyone wanted.

Above I stated somewhere that there was no international break in FIFA this November to explain why the playoffs were shorter, but it appears I got that info from an outdated schedule. I now think there is one, so it is a mystery to me how they plan to handle that.

i guess is because they dont see the uefa nations league as something that will be taken very seriously by the uefa nations? everyone else i think just has friendlies.

unless of course concacaf does its own nations league as well.

 

[Gotham Gator]

This post prompted speculation, mostly by Gator and me, over how to accommodate the issue Gator spotted, which I bolded to make it easier to follow. Basically we thought you could not work it out among 11 teams that every team could pair off with 2 other teams. He proposed a couple of solutions including changing the 34 game schedule, and I thought we would see one pair of East teams play each other 4 times.
We both were wrong not because our solutions were off but because Gator identified a problem that doesn't exist, and to be fair, I thought he was right. With 11 teams in the conference you can have every team play 2 other teams 3 times if you set it up right. Last year they handled it differently but they did not have to.

Here is how the 3-game matchups work out:

Atlanta: DC, Orlando
Chicago, Columbus, Toronto
Columbus, Philly, Chicago
DC: RB, Atlanta
Montreal: TFC, New England
New England: Philly, Montreal
NYCFC: RB, Orlando
RB: NYCFC, DC
Orlando: Atlanta, NYCFC
Philadelphia: Columbus, New England
Toronto: Montreal, Chicago

Good catch.

Last year, each team played 3 games against 3 other teams in its conference - not 2 other teams. That's what didn't work. This year, I wrongly assumed the same dynamic would be at play, but that's because I didn't take the time to think it through as carefully as last year.

The issue is simple when you think about it. Last year, 11 teams needed to play 3 extra games, which equals 33 across the conference. That won't work because it is an odd number and each game needs 2 teams to play in it. This year, 11 teams need 2 extra games, which is 22 total and works fine. Note that the difference between last year and this year comes from the extra game each team plays against LAFC. In some sense, 23 teams works better than 22.

 

[SoupInNYC]

There's an odd number of teams in the league, so one team is going to have a bye every week of the season. Literally impossible to avoid until Nashville comes in.

Should make MLS Fantasy a bit more interesting this year. Throw that together with all the new signings going around, it'll be dramatically different than last year.

 

[SoupInNYC]

Are we gonna be undefeated on June 3?

You clearly missed this post.