With J Hutcherson -- If you choose to believe Columbus Crew coach Robert Warzycha, this is undoubtedly their year. After all, this is a team that can run with that MLS cliche of a transitional lineup and actually get a meaningful result.
"We don't have a reserve team; we have 23 players right now that can step up anytime on the field and win any game ... everybody here on this club is contributing. We have a very deep squad, I can go with any player and as long as we are playing as a team, we can be very successful."
2-0 over the Galaxy on Saturday, and the response is 'well yeah, and...' Then again, this is a Crew that lost to the team with the worst record in Major League Soccer and had no answer for Cruz Azul away or home. That's putting a lot of weight on Warzycha's "playing as a team" caveat.
Closer to a reality is that in MLS play, the Crew hold up at home. This season, that's the difference between being the top team in MLS and among the crowd pushing for a playoff spot. They're also in position to make none of this matter, or at least memorable.
Normally, the best team in MLS finishes the season at around 55 points. The average for the Supporter's Shield is 56, but take out the high (LA on 68 points in 1998) and the low (the '04 Crew on 49) and that number drops to 51. Up until 2006 MLS played a 32-game schedule, but we're looking for the broader point here in the era of 30 games.
With four games left and two at home, the Crew should beat 51 points. There's a decent chance they can get the number to 55. That pulls this season of mediocrity along with them, a good thing for all involved.
Match with that an equally average playoffs, and MLS can push past a season that no one is likely to remember outside of Seattle a few years from now. That is if MLS gets a run of circumstance and luck that doesn't put expansion teams into contention in year one and creates a competitive environment where the better teams actually produce.
In this season where teams are turning it on after dropping out of the reasonable running, what the Crew are doing counts for something. It's not an indicator that they can go into anybody's building and demonstrate that depth they're so keyed up about, but it remains more than most teams can say.
Show of hands for anybody who had that scenario in their preseason predictions. A club considering the short-term and looking past MLS to a midweek game in the CONCACAF Champions League. Another minus their marquee player. The result propping up a point about squad depth and home field for what passes as the best team in Major League Soccer.
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.
