Luis Robles was just going to hang around for a couple of months. Stay in shape, cash his paychecks, wait for a team to claim him. In all likelihood, nobody would. And that was O.K. His wife would have the baby — covered by Major League Soccer’s health insurance — and that would be it. Robles would walk away from soccer for good. He was fine with that. Even had a job lined up.
Instead, on Sunday, Robles will start in goal for the Red Bulls when they open the M.L.S. playoffs against D.C. United. This is what he does, what Robles has done 106 times in a row now — six games shy of Kevin Hartman’s league record of starting and finishing 112 straight regular-season games.