This is a 10* on SPORTING KC

Top seeded Sporting KC will meet San Jose in the first round of the MLS’ Western Conference playoffs. These sides actually did not play in the regular season. Not like San Jose is going to complain about that. They had to overcome a sluggish start to the season just to get into the playoffs. Sporting KC was strong down the stretch, losing only one of the last seven matches. They head into the playoffs having kept three consecutive clean sheets to conclude the regular season. San Jose’s regular season finale saw them get dealt a 4-1 defeat by Real Salt Lake, who failed to even qualify for the postseason.This is a single elimination tournament and we can’t see the top seed losing in the first round. They were 12-3-6 in the regular season compared to 8-6-9 for San Jose. Can’t say that Sporting KC’s +13 goal differential is “dominant,” but the Earthquakes -16 GD is pretty bad for a playoff team. It’s the worst GD of all the playoff teams. Sporting KC is 13-2-8 the past 23 meetings. Play on SPORTING KC

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