The Sounders are wired for the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs because to this team, the postseason starts before it begins in earnest.
For the seventh straight season, the Seattle Sounders won their final match of the regular season. In three of the last four years, it led to an MLS Cup berth and two MLS Cup titles.
If Seattle had this dormant in its DNA since 2009, the arrival of Nicolás Lodeiro midseason in 2016 truly activated it. The Sounders were fighting for their playoff lives the entire second half of that season, with each match more important than the last.