Since MLS expanded to six playoff teams per conference in 2015, the top six Eastern Conference teams in terms of goal differential in each of the past two years have made the postseason, although not in exact order. This supports the fact that goal differential is a good indicator of success — there’s a direct relationship between goal dominance and point accumulation.
Orlando City currently sits level on goal differential for the 2017 season, having scored 11 and shipped 11 through its first nine contests. Although this even differential is the fifth-best in the East at the moment, the Lions find themselves just a point off the top of the conference table with a game in hand on Toronto, so things are still good standings-wise despite back-to-back losses.