Finishing first in the standings is no guarantee of winning, or even reaching, MLS Cup. By the same token, finishing fifth or sixth does not necessarily keep you from lifting the top trophy in North American soccer.
Now, of course, claiming top spot in either the Western or Eastern Conference, affords your team the opportunity to claim the Supporters' Shield, to in effect be crowned the league champions. That would be nice, obviously.
But, even if the Rapids miss out on that, there are still prizes to be won.
Below is a table which lays out position-wise where the MLS Cup finalists finished in their respective conferences, bearing in mind that the league was split into East, West and Central from 2000-01.