Through seven games, the Seattle Sounders are on nine points. That’s just two more points than they had at the same point last year — a start most considered to be a near disaster — that served as foreshadowing for a particularly tumultuous summer.
This year’s start is a bit different, though. The primary reason: five of the Sounders’ games have been on the road, including their past three (a year ago just three of their first seven were on the road). But beyond that fact, there are quite a few underlying factors that suggest the Sounders have played better than their total points suggest.