KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The Wizards may be on the outside looking in when it comes to the postseason, but for all intents and purposes, the team’s de facto playoffs start Saturday night against Seattle at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.
If Kansas City manage a victory, the postseason dream will continue for another week. If not, the team’s hopes will likely be dashed for a second straight season.
“Our playoffs start now,” veteran defender Jimmy Conrad said. “There is some gravity to this game. We know that we have to win. That’s going to bring an extra element to it and give it purpose.”
The Wizards fully grasp the amount of work they’ve left for themselves with just two weeks left in the regular season.
Kansas City may be the last of the teams currently outside the playoff picture with a reasonable chance of sneaking into the postseason, but that doesn’t mean the odds are too favorable.
The Wizards are seven points behind the San Jose Earthquakes, eight points behind the Colorado Rapids and nine points behind the Seattle Sounders with just four matches remaining.
Even if manager Peter Vermes’ team wins out – an impressive feat that would give KC 45 points – all three of their competitors would still have a good shot of keeping their wild card places with decent results down the stretch.
“I think every game in the last four is do or die,” Vermes said. “Obviously, things could happen with other teams, but the way we see it is simple: We have to win.”
Although all four results will be critical, goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen said the team was staying focused on Saturday and the prospect of spoiling the Sounders' experience at CAB with the visitors coming off a second consecutive US Open Cup championship in midweek.
“It’s pretty tough to say you have to win the last four games,” Nielsen said. “We just have to win on Saturday. That’s the most important result. We cannot focus on all four games right now.”
That said, it’s hard for the Wizards not to focus on the consequences of a loss that would effectively end their season. For veterans like Conrad, who is in his 13th professional season at the age of 33, it’s difficult to envision another season ending in disappointment.
“From my perspective, being the oldest guy on the team, I think I realize that I only have so much time left,” Conrad said. “This is the position we find ourselves in and we have to make the best of it, but I wish it was a different kind of conversation at this point.”
But in the end, this is the situation Kansas City finds themselves in, and now it all comes down to results.
Said Nielsen: “It’s life or death for us.”
