Columbus Errors Create Chaos in MLS East: Who’s Rising, Who’s Falling

Philadelphia has dominated the Eastern Conference this season, with Cincinnati and Columbus directly behind them. The rest of the Eastern Conference has been an old-school boxing match over who will own the remaining playoff spots.

Standings change every week with new injuries and players starting to gel with their new teammates and systems.

In the Western Conference, we are starting to see a gap from the top with a lack of top teams in the West. The Eastern Conference has been a different story. It’s not clear who the top teams are in the conference and who are the fringe playoff contenders.

A few weeks ago, we thought Inter Miami and the Columbus Crew were the top two teams, with everyone else clearly behind. That is no longer the case with teams with bottom to middle seeds in the East currently.

We saw in the past few weeks that certain teams were trending back, Columbus’ devastating loss to Charlotte was a display of how talented the league truly is throughout the East. Anyone.

Trending up

Teams like Orlando City and Nashville SC are storming up the standings in their current form. These two unexpected contenders have shaken up the standings each week as they continue to peak.

Orlando more and more looks like a MLS Cup contender, only three points behind the top seed in the East could be the motivation they need to take a top spot in the East.

Nashville has had momentum for most the season, with BJ Callaghan’s leadership and tactical judgment this squad is arms reach away from the top seed.

New York City FC has passed up Miami in what is supposed be another step back as the club try’s to find a new identity. Miami was expected to compete with the top of the back which makes this jump in the standings so big for NYCFC.

Charlotte FC has been an interesting team to follow as they dance across the standings every week. After dropping four straight (Including one U.S. Open Cup game) Charlotte could pivot themselves past the eight seed if they build off of Saturdays stunning 3-2 win over Columbus Crew.

What makes this squad so interesting is the young talent that has yet to hit their stride yet. The two goals from Patrick Agyemang is a positive as this team looks to what their future could be.

Agyemang, the 24 year old USMNT prospect hasn’t lived up to the big expectations for his club with just five goals on the year after his performance Saturday.

Trending Down

Inter Miami’s winless streak is starting to be concerning, their current form will not be good enough for them to make a playoff run let alone be considered a playoff team. Saturdays draw to Philadelphia showed that this old dog still has some fight left in them despite the poor form in many of it’s top players.

Columbus Crew hasn’t won a game since their first matchup against Charlotte where they won by just a goal. Since then the Crew has had to settle for a draw in three of it’s last four games.

Scoring appeared to be the problem for the Crew, after the loss to Charlotte their defense may also be the problem. two fast goals for Charlotte put the Crew in a deep hole they were uncapable of coming back from.

A lot of fans thought the Chicago Fire could continue building on their play from early in the season that put them in the mix early on. Despite not being what many would deem as a true contender they looked to be a fringe playoff squad.

After a few solid wins, Sunday’s loss could send this team into a spiral after giving up three straight goals. Their win streak started thanks to playing the rest of the bottom seeds in the East.

It was never sustainable, As the schedule gets more difficult expect Chicago to slowly fall further away from the nine and eight seeds.