Real Salt Lake’s odds of making the playoffs are worse than a coin flip.
Even after beating Sporting Kansas City over the weekend, RSL currently has a 48.6% chance of earning a wildcard spot and a 36% shot at the playoffs, according to Opta’s TheAnalyst.com.
That’s why head coach Pablo Mastroeni and his team don’t want to leave anything to chance over the final month of the regular season.
“We have to almost win out,” Mastroeni admitted.
Defender Alex Katranis can do the math on that equation quickly, with just six games remaining.
“Eighteen points,” he said. “You try to get the maximum.”
RSL (10-14-4, 34 points) finds itself in 10th place in the Western Conference at the moment, and on the wrong side of the wildcard line. Salt Lake sits a point back of ninth-place San Jose (35), five back of eighth-place Colorado (39) and seven points behind seventh-place Austin FC (41).
“I think this league is a streaky league,” Mastroeni said after picking up three crucial points on Saturday night. “We have to find ways to get maximum points these next few games to keep the momentum going.”
But Salt Lake has a tough test. RSL faces off with Son Hueng-Min and fifth-place LAFC twice in the next week.
“LAFC is a great team; they’re flying at the moment,” Mastroeni said. “But the moment you start focusing on your opponent and that becomes the object of your attention, then you start second-guessing yourself.”
After that, RSL has home games against Austin and Colorado before closing out the season on the road in Seattle (fourth place) and St. Louis (14th).
“It’s not the easiest thing for a relatively young team to take on,” Mastroeni said. But the coach added, “What gives me belief is the way the guys are executing, the way the guys are fighting for each other, the way the guys are solving problems on the field.”