Editorial (August 13, 2018) – The Colorado Rapids have 11 games left in their 2018 MLS regular season. Of those games, all but two are against Western Conference opponents. They sit 12 points below the red line. Just three of those games are against teams not currently in a playoff spot. Every point is precious and every game is a six-pointer from here on out.

Faded Colorado Rapids playoff hopes depend on LA road trip this week

This is going to be a busy week for the Burgundy and Blue. They’ll be spending the entire week in Southern California, as they play LA Galaxy tomorrow and then make their first ever trip to Banc of California Stadium to take on expansion side Los Angeles FC.

The Rapids are most probably not making the playoffs this season. To do so would be unprecedented in MLS, surpassing the second half run Seattle Sounders FC made in 2015. But if Colorado is going to make the bubble teams look over their shoulder or better, it has to start this week.

Tomorrow will be the last midweek game of the season for Colorado. They’ll play Saturday on just three days rest, but the rest of the season will be Saturday-only games until the final match of the season (Sunday, October 28 vs. FC Dallas). LAFC will be playing on just two days rest as they host Real Salt Lake on Wednesday night.

Logistically, this is the toughest week the Rapids have the rest of the season. This will also be the beginning of the toughest part of Colorado’s schedule as far as quality of opponent. The Rapids haven’t been great against non-playoff teams this year. If Kellyn Acosta and company are going to make the playoffs, they’re going to have to start beating playoff teams this week.

LA Galaxy and LAFC have two of the best attacks in the Western Conference. They boast game-changing attacking talents like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ola Kamara, Carlos Vela, and Diego Rossi. Defensively, they’ve shown cracks in the armor recently.

The Galaxy defense has been their Achille’s Heel all season. The Rapids were able to take advantage of that to get a win recently, albeit with Ibrahimovic suspended. LAFC just lost their first game of the year this past weekend (albeit with some reserves starting) and they have developed a bad habit of conceding late goals this past month.

This week the Rapids play two good but flawed teams. Can the Rapids get results by taking advantage of defensive issues and limiting these two potent offenses?

A playoff team would find a way to get four points from this week. They’ll need at least that to climb back into the playoff hunt.