"Five Things" is a season-long series presented by the Children's Mercy Sports Medicine Center that highlights the top storylines and players to watch ahead of each match. To visit the series archive, click here.
As the calendar turns to October, the home stretch of the 2020 MLS regular season is officially upon us. Squarely in the thick of a wild Western Conference race, Sporting Kansas City (6-5-2, 20 points) will begin a pivotal run of matches on Saturday when the club visits rivals Houston Dynamo (3-4-7, 16 points).