Seattle beats Real Salt Lake 2-1 in the regular-season finale and takes the fourth seed into the playoffs. It will host Sporting Kansas City in a one-game playoff Thursday.
After all of that, the Sounders ended up in a familiar place.
At the end of this campaign, of all campaigns — after the midseason coaching change, the addition of Nicolas Lodeiro and loss of Clint Dempsey — Seattle wound up just about where it usually does this time of year: preparing to host a playoff game and with MLS Cup dreams intact.
The Sounders clinched their eighth consecutive postseason berth with a businesslike 2-1 victory over Real Salt Lake in front of a crowd of 50,022 on Sunday afternoon at CenturyLink Field.