A year ago, Sporting Kansas City missed the playoffs for the first time since 2011 — a surprise given the team's penchant for consistency under head coach Peter Vermes.
With a solid 2-0 over Real Salt Lake in the snow on Sunday, Sporting finished an emphatic journey back to the playoffs by securing the top seed in a crowded Western Conference full of talented teams.
"We faced a lot this year, and I guess it was apropos that we play our game in a blizzard," Vermes remarked, in the final match that saw Sporting go from an 11th-place finish in 2019's West race to the top rung this year – the biggest season-on-season turnaround, in terms of league position, in MLS history.