Season 10: Fast postseason facts

1996, 1997, 1999 and 2004. The five other championships have been won by Western Conference teams, starting with the Chicago Fire (1998). The San Jose Earthquakes are the only other multiple winner (2001 and 2003). The Western Conference, incidentally, held a stranglehold on the Cup for four consecutive years -- Kansas City Wizards (2000), San Jose (2001), Los Angeles Galaxy (2002) and San Jose (2003) before United (who else?) broke the streak last year.

The D.C. United file

In fact, thanks to all of the success United has enjoyed during the first nine years, yours truly has decided to dedicate a special section to D.C.'s success. Some intriguing tidbits about the Black and Red:

They've lost to: MetroStars (away via a shootout after a 2-2 finish on Sept. 24, 1996); Columbus (4-2 away on Oct. 8, 1998); Chicago (2-0 at a neutral site -- the Rose Bowl in the 1998 MLS Cup - on Oct. 25, 1998); Columbus (5-1 away on Nov. 7, 1999); Chicago (2-0 home on Nov. 1, 2003); Chicago (2-0 away on Nov. 9, 2003)

Like it or not, playoff futility is defined by the MetroStars, who have gotten out of the opening round only once -- 2000 -- and that was with an A-League goalkeeper in Paul Grafer between the posts. Mike Ammann had been hospitalized by a brutal collision with Mamadou Diallo and Tim Howard was at the Summer Olympics. The club swept the Dallas Burn in two games before meeting its match in the semifinals against the Chicago Fire.

For the record, the MetroStars are 5-10-2 in the playoffs, including 1-7-2 away from the confines of Giants Stadium. In fact, one stat could define the MetroStars' playoff futility: Until they defeated United 2-1 at RFK Stadium on Oct. 8 and Chivas USA this past Sunday 2-0, they had won but once in October. They now have a 3-11-2 record in this month. They're also winless in November (0-1-1).

So, your favorite team has enjoyed a fabulous great season. In fact, your heroes earned more points than any other team in the league.

So that makes them a favorite to win it all, right?

Not necessarily.

Take heed of history, Earthquakes fans (the Quakes captured this year's Supporters' Shield on the strength of their 18-4-10 record and 64 points).

Of the nine previous Supporters' Shield winners, only four have gone on to MLS Cup glory -- United (1997 and 1999), Kansas City (2000) and Los Angeles (2002). In fact, only five conference winners have gone on to capture the championship; the aforementioned Shield winners and the 2003 Earthquakes.

Here's how the Supporters' Shield winners and eventual MLS champions have fared during the regular season:

1996
Supporters' Shield: Tampa Bay (20-12, 58 points), lost to United in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, two games to one
Eventual champion: United (16-16-0, 46), which finished second in the conference and third in the league

1997
Supporters' Shield and champion: United (22-11, 55)

1998
Supporters' Shield: Los Angeles (28-8, 68), lost in the Western Conference Finals, swept by the Chicago Fire, two games to none
Eventual champion: Chicago (20-12), which finished second in the conference and third overall

1999
Supporters' Shield and champion: United (23-9, 57)

2000
Supporters' Shield and champion: Kansas City (16-7-9, 57)

2001
Supporters' Shield: Miami (16-5-5, 53), which was eliminated in the semifinals by San Jose, which won the first to five points playoff competition used that season (6-3)
Eventual champion: San Jose (13-7-6, 45), which finished second in the Western Division and tied for fourth overall

2002
Supporters Shield and champion: Los Angeles (16-9-3, 51)

2003
Supporters' Shield: Chicago (15-7-8, 53), which lost 4-2 in the MLS Cup to the Earthquakes
Eventual champion: San Jose (14-7-9, 51), which took first place in the Western Conference and was second overall

2004
Supporters' Shield: Columbus (12-5-13, 49), which was eliminated by the New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference semifinals (first round), losing 2-1 on aggregate goals

Eventual champion: United (11-10-9, 42) which finished second in the conference and fourth overall

Does winning your conference automatically translate in taking it all?

Not necessarily.

In the previous nine playoffs, five conference champions out of a possible 20 (remember, the league had three divisions in 2000 and 2001) have gone on to win MLS Cup -- United (1997 and 1999), Kansas City (2000), Los Angeles (2002) and San Jose 2003).

It is even rarer for conference champions to meet for the title, although it was accomplished in 1999 (D.C. vs. L.A.), 2000 (K.C. vs. Chicago) and 2003 (San Jose vs. Chicago).

How important is home-field advantage in the playoffs? I'll let the numbers tell the story.

Home teams have won 71.6 percent of the time, compiling an 84-30-11 mark.

The best years? The four best happened in the past four seasons: 2004 (8-1-1, 85 percent), 2000 (12-2-2, 81.2 percent), 1999 (12-3, 80 percent) and 2001 (11-3-3, 78.1 percent).

The worst year for home teams occurred in 1997, when teams compiled a 6-6 record in their own stadium.

And enjoying home-field advantage for the one-shot deal in the conference finals is vital. In the two years that playoff format has been used, the home team has won all four times and advanced to MLS Cup.

To truly appreciate D.C.'s early dominance, United is the only team to win back-to-back championships (1996 and 1997), losing out for a triple in 1998, but bouncing back the next year. Here's an eye-opener: Of the other champions that were eligible to repeat, not one has been able to get back to the title game in consecutive seasons. The Galaxy lost in the 2001 Final and rebounded to the 2002 Cup. So, depending on your vantage point United will be bucking history or trying to repeat its own in more ways than one.

Depending on the category, these feats with the feet and head can be measured by excellence over years, a superb surge during the month of postseason or 90 minutes of brilliance.

For a career, Roy Lassiter has found the back of the net 13 times, mostly for United and the defunct Mutiny. Of course, if United goes far in this year's playoffs, the incomparable Jaime Moreno (12 goals) could surpass that mark as could FC Dallas striker Carlos Ruiz (11 playoff goals in as many matches), who struck eight times for the Galaxy in its 2002 title run.

Only two players have managed hat tricks in the playoffs -- United's Raul Diaz Arce in a 4-1 victory against Tampa Bay on Oct. 10, 1996 and Columbus' Stern John vs. D.C. in a 5-1 triumph on Nov. 7, 1999. In fact, John's goals came in the second half.

Not only does Colorado forward Diego Serna holds the career record for most red cards in a playoffs, he accomplished that feat in one year, quite a difficult achievement considering how short the post-season really is. He pulled that off while with Miami Fusion in 2001. He was given his marching orders in playoff series against the Wizards and Earthquakes. Incidentally, Serna played but 13 minutes in his Rapids debut, replacing Jean Philippe Peguero in the 77th minute in the 3-1 win against Chivas USA on Sept. 24. He didn't figure in any scoring, but was slapped with a yellow card.

There is no doubt that the Galaxy's Landon Donovan steps up his game in the playoffs.

In fact, there are two sides to Donovan, the player in the regular season who accumulates ordinary stats and the one in the playoffs who posts extraordinary numbers.

Consider these numbers:

In 109 regular-season matches, Donovan has scored 44 goals and assisted on 39 others.

In 14 playoff matches, Donovan has scored 10 goals and set up six others.

Galaxy midfielder Cobi Jones, who has been with the league since Day One, has never missed the playoffs. So, it should not be surprising that Jones leads has played more than the equivalent of a season in the playoffs and leads in several categories, including games (41), minutes (3,573) and fouls suffered (103). In case you're wondering, Jones has fouled opponents on 46 occasions. He has scored six times and assisted on 11 others.

Joining the Galaxy a year after Jones in 1997, Hartman also has played the equivalent of a season, starting in 35 games over 3,202 minutes for a 1.29 goals-against average and an 18-13-3 mark.

Two categories fall under this topic: Teams that had so-so regular seasons that found the glass slipper or brass ring and teams that enjoyed fabulous playoff runs to MLS Cup.

The champion with the poorest record was 1996 United, which some people might forget in light of D.C.'s fabulous postseason success through the years. D.C. went 16-16 that season, finishing second to Tampa Bay (and third in overall points in the league) before getting hot in the playoffs.

As it turns out, the 2004 United side (11-10-9, 42) came closest to that accomplishment, finishing second in its conference and fourth overall. The 2001 Earthquakes (13-7-6, 45) also were fourth overall, but had a slightly better point total, playing in two more games.

As for clubs that enjoyed the ride until the final game, two teams come to mind:

• The 1997 Rapids (14-18, 38), which finished fourth in the Western Conference and had the seventh most points. The Rapids, however, swept all four of their playoff matches against higher seeded sides before meeting their match vs. United in MLS Cup in a 2-1 loss.

• The 2002 Revolution (12-14-2, 38), which finished second in the East, had tied for the fifth most points during the regular season. The Revs lost to the Galaxy in the final at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., 1-0.

And the winner is ...

Wait a minute, now. That is the subject of a future column. Do you think I'm going to reveal which one I am talking about at the end of this column? Come on. Guess you're going to have to wait until a future column to find out.