For the Chicago Fire, winning championships is part of tradition. Since the team's inaugural 1998 season, when the team won the coveted "domestic double", the team has hoisted three additional championship trophies.
The addition of Toronto FC brought the total number of teams in the league to an uneven 13, necessitating a revised playoff format. For the 2007 season, eight of the 13 MLS teams will receive a position in the 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs. Playoff berths will be determined by points in the standings (three points for a win, one point for a tie, and zero points for a loss) upon the completion of the regular season on Oct. 21. At the time of the last regular season game, all 13 MLS teams will have played 30 games.
If two teams are tied on points, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head results, the second is on goal differential, and the third is goals scored for the season. Subsequent tiebreakers include: applying the first three tiebreaking procedures to games played only on the road (road 1-3), applying the first three tiebreaking procedures to games played only at home, awarding the team with the fewest number of disciplinary points in the League Fair Play table, and finally if teams are still tied - a coin toss.
Under the new 2007 regulations, the top two teams in each conference qualify and are seeded first and second in their respective four-team playoff conference brackets. The four MLS teams with the next most points, regardless of conference, receive "wildcard" berths. The four wild card teams will be seeded according to conference first and if more than four teams qualify from one conference, those finishing lower than fourth in their conference will shift over to the other conference bracket. A team switching conference brackets will be seeded below all the other teams in its new conference playoff bracket.
With exactly four weeks remaining in Major League Soccer's regular season, teams are vying for the eight spots in the MLS Cup Playoffs. Currently five Eastern Conference teams are in position to qualify, essentially stealing a wildcard slot away from the Western Conference where three teams sit above the fault line. Chicago, 30 points, is currently positioned in the eighth spot, and were the season to end today, the Fire would be in. With 29 points, the Colorado Rapids have been breathing down Chicago's neck since the Fire passed them in points on Sept. 8, defeating the Columbus Crew 1-0 for three points. Columbus sits only two points behind the Fire with 28.
If the season ended today, the pairings for the two-leg Conference Semifinal series would be:
Eastern Conference Semifinals
D.C. United vs. Kansas City Wizards
New England Revolution vs. New York Red Bulls
Western Conference Semifinals
Houston Dynamo vs. Chicago Fire
Chivas USA vs. FC Dallas
As the fifth team to qualify from the Eastern Conference, Chicago would shift over to become the fourth seed in the Western Conference playoff bracket.
These matches are hypothetical, especially since not all teams have played an equal number of games.
The Fire face two opponents this week, FC Dallas on Thursday (7:00 p.m. CT, ESPN2) and D.C. United on Sunday (2:00 p.m. CT, My50 and Telefutura). Every game is an opportunity for the Fire to gain three key points in the regular season standings. The Fire have passed Colorado and Columbus in the playoff race, and now have their sights on Kansas City and New York as they continue their climb in the standings.
