MLS is a parity league; sustained excellence over the course of a full season requires both exceptional talent within the relatively tight constrains of league roster construction and a healthy dose of luck. This only goes to show the difficulty of the Seattle Sounders’ playoff run — making enough adjustments to rate well under competitive adversity (consider, for example, that the team had lost Clint Dempsey for the season and Chad Marshall to retirement in its two MLS Cup seasons). One doesn’t project any team to be the absolute best (or worst) with any great level of confidence — fivethirtyeight.
What the stats say about the Sounders’ prospects in 2020
