TUKWILA, Wash. — If you need any evidence illustrating the inevitable ups and downs that come with the long and rigorous grind of an MLS season, look no further than the past few weeks for the Seattle Sounders.
For much of the summer and into September, the Sounders were the league’s hottest team, owners of a nine-game winning streak that broke the single-season record for the longest run of its kind in the post-shootout era. But they’ve followed that up with a pair of losses, first to the Philadelphia Union at home on Sept. 19 and then to the LA Galaxy on the road at StubHub Center on Sunday.