For FC Dallas coach Oscar Pareja, autumn has reliably brought more than cooler weather and changing leaves.
In the three seasons he's coached FC Dallas, Pareja has met the Seattle Sounders in the Western Conference semifinals every time. The teams face off Sunday night in Seattle in the first leg of a two-legged series.
And in his first playoff appearance as a head coach, when he was at the helm of the Colorado Rapids, Pareja lost a knockout-round match to the Sounders.
The results have been mixed. FCD was knocked out on the away-goals tiebreaker in 2014 but last year topped the Sounders in penalty kicks to get into the conference finals.