The midweek slate of Major League Soccer returns this week with a series of interesting matches. As the playoff race begins to hot up and teams grow increasingly desperate for points to sneak into the postseason, some of the upcoming contests pose balanced and intriguing propositions.
Every team between second and seventh in the Western Conference is in action bar the San Jose Earthquakes. Only five points separate those six teams, and Portland, who are currently at the bottom of that list, have a home-heavy schedule to end the year and games in hand on all above them.