#-1: United FC (Last Week: -2). This has been a bad-to-real-bad Week for Twin Cities teams. I can't believe that I'm putting in the top spot a club that went winless for the Week. But, well, implications lead me to this conclusion. And I stand by it.
On Saturday, the Loons visited Colorado without Emanuel Reynoso, Michael Boxall, and Robin Lod because they all accumulated too many Yellow Cards. As I said last Week, this is still a winnable Match because they're facing a Rapids side that just does not have it this season. But they lost -- a winning Game, but they lost, 4-3, on the strength of a Hat Trick from Gyasi Zardes.
It should be noted that Minnesota has cranked the Offense dial up to 11 as of late. After that crazy-ass 4-all tie against Portland, there were four Goals scored in this one within the first third of the First Half; Abu Danladi got MNUFC up in the Fourth Minute only for the XI to allow Colorado to score thrice in eight Minutes. You could say that if Minnesota had all three starters in this one, Minnesota would win. But you have to recognize that they could have won this one without them.
A demoralizing culprit for the Loss: Goalie Dayne St. Clair. According to xG (and I don't understand this statistic at all, even though every analyst on TV and print and the Internet relies on this as a tidy summary of a player's performance), DSC was at a MLS all-time best for about the first half of the Year, but since June, he has been not just mediocre, but poor. People watching the Match believe St. Clair was responsible for two of the Rapids' Goals. He stops those, the team would have extended their unbeaten streak to eight Matches. But he didn't, and at least one writer on mlssoccer.com called for Adrian Heath to bench St. Clair.
So of course he goes out on Wednesday and is named Most Valuable Player of the MLS All-Star Game as the American league beat Liga MX, 2-1. I think it's more a homer pick than anything, but DSC had that one diving save he needed to make to ensure he didn't allow a Goal on his watch. That ASG was cool, by the way. It's the second one I've ever attended, the first being the NHL ASG in, of all places, Dallas where I was able to easily snag a ticket from a scalper. Yeah, these fucking people got to steal our hockey team. Anyway, it was great to see so many jerseys representing Mexico: The Mexican national team, Chivas (a lot of Goats jerseys; I sat next to a guy wearing one), Club America, Cruz Azul, Pachuca, Pumas ... it was great to see so much representation from a country and a league you don't see much in Minnesota. I want to say the vast majority of all those ... shoot, I'm going to say they're Mexican natives all live here, because I can't see the MLS ASG as an event people fly in for. But I don't know. Maybe I'll ask my season ticket representative; maybe he'll know. Oh, by the way: The female talent of Liga MX and Mexico fans was fucking top notch.
So back to the WMNSS ... the Loss puts MNUFC in fourth place in the West, one Point behind FC Dallas and one Point ahead of Real Salt Lake. The Rapids Game was the last of six consecutive Matches the Loons played against squads that were out of their conference's playoff picture at the time they played them. They went 3-2-1 for 11 Points. Should've been at least one, if not three, Points more on Saturday, but the club used this soft part of the schedule to straighten out and fly up the standings, which they needed to do. But now comes the hard part, beginning with tomorrow/Sunday night's tilt at a Nashville side that opened grand GEODIS Park this season but has only won three of 11 Matches there. I have read that there has been some booing from the home fans because of both results and the conservative play by Nashville SC. Plus, Reynoso, Boxall and Lod will all be back, even though Reynoso is tending to a sore ankle. (Reynoso started the ASG, by the way; no Goals, but he had a nice shot and displayed the usual dribbling prowess that makes him one of the best players in the league.
#-2: Twins (Last Week: -1). Yeah, they won twice this screening Week. (Aside: I have ranked all three teams in this Week's WMNSS in inverse order of weekly record. And I still stand by that ranking. This must be a first.) But they lose thrice this Week, too, and partly because of that, they have slipped behind the Cleveland Guardians and are now in second place in the American League Central Division for the first time in Lord knows how long. Cleveland has won six in a row. Meanwhile, the Twinks split a four-Game series in Toronto and lost both Games of a midweeker at the Dodgers.
Whatever magic they had to climb to the top of the standings is now gone. Starting Pitching is no longer sterling. The Lineup has come back to earth. And the Bullpen, even with the addition of so many new arms that many beat writers say it's the busiest the organization has ever been, remains only good at their best. This feels like the moment where the host of the party turns on all the lights.
Could I be wrong? Sure. But without the lead in the AL Central, don't look now, but the Twins are now out of the playoff picture. At least they'll have opponents against which they might be able to turn it around. They spend the weekend in Anaheim against a ballclub that arguably has The Two Best Players In MLB (Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani) and yet are 49-64. They then come back to Target Field to host Kansas City for a trio beginning Monday, then have a four-Game series vs. The Bastard Washington Senators v.2.0. starting Friday.
#-3: Lynx (Last Week: -3). Entering yesterday/Friday, the Lynx were one of four teams vying for the final two playoff spots, the others being Phoenix, New York, and Atlanta. They all the same record of ... 14-20. Seeing that this is a top-heavy season and therefore the seventh and eighth seeds in the playoffs likely will be cannon fodder (I forgot that the WNBA changed its format again for this Year: They have abandoned the stepladder, double-bye format for the conventional bracket where all eight teams play from the start [best-of-three for the Quarterfinals, best-of-five for the Semifinals and Finals]), I still don't understand this thirst to reach the playoffs and instead just toss your lot into the WNBA Lottery and hope you get the first pick and the chance to draft Aliyah Boston. Let's face it; even if the Lynx make the postseason, this is a rebuilding Year, and next Year will be one, too.
Napheesa Collier has returned from maternity leave, and all season I have doubted the utility of her coming back when a bottoming-out seems to be in order and with a promising rookie class coming up. But then the obvious finally hit me -- the reason Phee came back was because she wanted to play with the legend, Sylvia Fowles, before Fowles retired. And then it makes sense that Big Syl wants to push for the playoffs. She's a competitor who wants to give it her all until she won't be allowed to. So ... yeah, I guess trying for the postseason ain't the worst thing in the world. (By the way, while I have sort-of understood her greatness, it's been only very recently, up until the club's home finale last/Friday night, where her accomplishments on the court were deservedly spotlighted. She seems to be a nice, worldly person off the court, too; this is an excellent profile of Fowles the player and the person, and her even-keeled nature makes me think that her varied interests off the court will keep her busy and happy in her retirement.)
Sad, then, that in that home finale, Minnesota got their damn doors blown off by Seattle, 96-69. This disaster was all over after the First Quarter, when the Storm led, 30-10. In that Quarter, Seattle drained six Three-Pointers (the Lynx had none) and scored more Points off Turnovers than the Lynx had Points. For the Game, the Storm shot 53% (38-of-72). For last season's Minnesota squad, Assist Percentage (and I'm guessing Assists as a byproduct) was a big reason they reached the playoffs. Well, they got out-assisted, 29-16, in the contest, more proof to me that lackluster Guard play has stymied the Lynx the past few Years. Meanwhile, Fowles scored 13, and the league's all-time leading rebounder grabbed twelve more.
While damaging, let alone humiliating, that Loss was last/Friday night, it's kind of sad to see the Lynx still have a fighting chance of making the playoffs. In a sorta elimination Game also last/Friday night, the Liberty beat the Dream. Meanwhile, Phoenix, having gone through trials not of their own making (Britney Griner) and sort-of their own making (Skylar Diggins-Smith has taken the last two Games off due to "personal reasons"), beat Dallas. This means that the Liberty and the Mercury are a Game up on the Lynx and the Dream. If New York and Phoenix both win their final Games tomorrow/Sunday, the Lynx are out. However, as I think it is explained here, Minnesota still holds tie-breakers on all three of the other clubs fighting for a playoff spot. So, if the Lynx beat Connecticut on the road and either the Liberty or the Mercury lose tomorrow/Sunday (all dozen WNBA teams play tomorrow/Sunday, though not at the same time, and to further ensure an honest effort I think all Games of a league's final regular season day should be played at the same time, just like how MLB now does it), by the grace of God, Minnesota's in.
For the record, New York finish a home-and-home at home vs. a Dream team that has lost three in a row and seven of their last nine, while Phoenix host a Chicago Sky club that still has a chance to finish above the Las Vegas Aces for the best record in the league. And, the Sun is locked into the third seed no matter if they beat or lose to Minnesota. Finally (and I have no other place to tuck this fact in), the Lynx's defeat ended a three-Game winning streak that got them to this puncher's chance; they beat Atlanta at Target Center Sunday and the Merc in Phoenix Wednesday. So I'm saying there's a chance.
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