In some very specific ways, this has been arguably the most frustrating season in Seattle Sounders history. It certainly isn’t the most gut-wrenching season to date — that belongs to 2013 and I’m not sure anything will ever come close — but this year started out with Brian Schmetzer openly talking about it being the best in franchise history, and it’s been stuck in neutral basically ever since.
Even if the Sounders manage to pull this season out of the ditch, grab a decent playoff seeding and make a deep run in the playoffs, I think there’s going to be a lingering sense of “what could have been” that will need to drive any offseason conversations.