Playoff Math?: New York Red Bulls vs Chicago Fire Preview

The Chicago Fire have 13 games left in the 2021 season. They are 7 points off a playoff spot in 12th. In almost every league, American sport or otherwise, they’d be ruled as out of a spot. However, this is MLS. A win over the Red Bulls would leapfrog the Fire over them into the standings and if Philadelphia can beat DC and TFC can beat Montreal, the Fire are very much still in the playoff conversation.

Conventional wisdom says the Fire should be turning their attention to next season, concentrating on players they know are going to be there and auditioning them for their future roles. They should be getting guys like Brian Gutierrez and Stanislav Ivanov some minutes in competitive fixtures.…