Can RSL still make the playoffs? Most assuredly — but what might that journey resemble, and just how practical are the team’s prospects? In this second part of our newest Storylines subseries, our author explores interpretations of this late stage’s defining questions
We interrupt your regularly scheduled program — don’t worry, only subtly — to bring you a Storylines rendering of a unique variety.
Welcome, formally, to The Playoff Countdown, a new Storylines subseries which will take narrative center stage in these concluding, decisive weeks of the 2025 MLS season. In these installments, every week until the end — of either the regular campaign or RSL’s chances of postseason qualification — this author will run the rule: previewing, discussing, and analyzing, in addition to matchups and subplots, various ramifications and permutations at play (from a fundamentally RSL perspective, of course) as Pablo Mastroeni and Co. maintain the pursuit of playoff contention for a fifth successive year.
This week, the setting of our portrayal bears familiar home comfort.
Two weeks is a long time in football — or, more specifically, without it. Two weeks and four days, more precisely, since RSL’s last outing near the end of August.
That timer will have hit a round three weeks by the time the Claret-and-Cobalt line up again, Saturday at America First Field, for the visit of West 13th-placed Sporting Kansas City to the Wasatch Front, in what will be the second meeting between the one-time rival sides this year.
The season’s business end is at hand; only seven rounds remain in RSL’s quest for footballing salvation. In this latest edition of Storylines, our author brings you the most pertinent plotlines and information worth your attention.
The run-in picture: imposing, not implausible
Can Real Salt Lake still qualify for the playoffs?
It is a topic that has become a lightning rod for coverage and conversation across the RSL ecosystem in recent weeks.
It is a topic that seemed equally heavy on head coach Mastroeni’s mind as he prepared to respond to a question posed to him by an interviewer at the end of his side’s last match.
“Ultimately, you feel anything is possible if you guide the team correctly. We’ll work ourselves to death. We have a big responsibility to the locker room, the club, and to the fans,” the RSL boss promised and explained.
“[In 2021], it took until the last game (to make the playoffs). Even if it takes until the last second of the game on the last day, we’ll get there, so the mentality is that we’re working like this because we have the confidence that we’ll get there.”
It was a manner of response delivered in typical Mastroeni fashion — fierce, determined, resilient. It’s a trademark of the head coach’s managerial style and the bedrock upon which his career successes (both as a player and manager) have been established: that sense of determination and never-say-die mindset.
It’s never over until it’s over.
It certainly wasn’t in 2021, nor is it right now either. Not yet, at least. But the clock is ticking, and fast.
As such, RSL v Sporting Kansas City, at first glance, may not carry the traditional resemblance of a fixture abounding with magnitude, but one only need peer beneath the shallow surface to uncover the true depth of meaning and consequence.
RSL’s difficulties this campaign mean the Claret-and-Cobalt presently find themselves locked in a battle at this late stage of the season for footballing salvation — the kind of which can only be found in playoff qualification. And the pursuit of that ambition adds further gravitas to Saturday’s affair, and lends it to being a contest of supreme gravity and repercussions — though, in truth, every RSL game from now till the season’s end likely fulfils that title, but Mastroeni will at least be aiming to get this first one positively navigated.
Remaining 2025 schedule
Saturday, September 13th: Home vs Sporting KC (13th West)
Wednesday, September 17th: Home vs LAFC (5th West)
Sunday, September 21st: Away vs LAFC (5th West)
Saturday, September 27th: Home vs Austin (6th West)
Saturday, October 4th: Home vs Colorado (8th West)
Saturday, October 11th: Away vs Seattle (4th West)
Saturday, October 18th: Away vs St. Louis (14th West)
Current ramifications and outlook
Mastroeni’s side currently sit in the West 11th slot (with 31 points from 27 games), four points ahead of their weekend opponents, who occupy 13th (with 27 points), but having played two games more than RSL.
RSL currently find themselves four points behind the ‘play-in’ line, but the encouraging news for Mastroeni and Co. is that the team still retains extra fixture advantages over five of its nearest contenders further above on the table (two games in hand over Houston 10th, San Jose 9th, and Colorado 8th, and one game over Portland 7th and Austin 6th).
Whilst the Claret-and-Cobalt also boast the advantage of having four of its next five games at home, symptomatic of the general grueling prospect is that five of the final seven overall those fixtures will be against teams currently above RSL in the standings. Daunting as that may sound, however, it provides the opportunity for the team to win crucial points against some of the most direct rivals standing in its path, with home clashes against Austin and Colorado, set for Sept. 27 and Oct. 4, respectively.
The returning cavalry
The definitive good news for Mastroeni is that the RSL boss will be able to welcome back a small host of important players. Star midfielder and top scorer Diego Luna headlines the returning contingent, which also includes 18-year-old prodigy Zavier Gozo and striker William Agada, the latter of whom will be up against his former team this weekend after swapping Kansas for Salt Lake in the Spring. Defender DeAndre Yedlin, however, is set to miss out due to a suspension earned from a yellow card accumulation after picking up a booking in the second half of the loss to Minnesota.
On that list of players going up against their previous employers at America First Field on Saturday also includes RSL midfielder Johnny Russell — who scored the only goal of the game for the visitors in the 1-1 draw when both sides in Kansas earlier in the season — and Kansas defender Andrew Brody, who will be returning to the Wasatch Front for the first time since his departure at the start of the season.
The Claret-and-Cobalt will also be further buoyed by the encouraging form of new striker signing Victor Olatunji, who netted his first goal for the club, on his home debut no less, with a first-time instinctive finish which helped restore initial parity against the Loons.
Mastroeni’s men will head into the weekend’s encounter illuminated by the knowledge that any result short of victory will only exacerbate an already tall task of an assignment. They will be further encouraged, however, going up against a Kansas side in beleaguered form, with six losses and two draws in their last 10 games. RSL have grappled with its own struggles this year but did recently enjoy a midseason run of form that yielded five wins in seven matches before the start of the Leagues Cup, and will be aiming to utilize this next game as a springboard for a late-season resurgence.
In four full years at the helm, Mastroeni has never failed to achieve playoff qualification — an impressive feat. In a contest between two teams with not too dissimilar season records, Saturday — and all that follows — will ensure the head coach’s legacy is subjected to the ultimate test of will and mettle.
Secure your tickets for Saturday’s contest of consequence back in Sandy, right here.
