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With 15 minutes left in Saturday’s game against the San Jose Earthquakes, Vancouver Whitecaps fans started trickling towards the exits.

The question this organization is faced with now is: will they come back?

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The club had hit lows in 2018 when they missed the playoffs for the second time in three seasons — costing long-time coach Carl Robinson his job in the process — and a post-season history that has never seen the team advance past the conference semifinals.

But Saturday’s 3-1 loss was the latest demoralizing result in a string of lopsided games that has brought this club to unprecedented lows.

They’ve never been in last place in the West this late in a season. They’ve lost five games in a row once before in team history (Aug. 15 to Sept. 15, 2012), but have never been so thoroughly dominated, getting outscored 17-2 in this five-game skid, and outshot 140-42.

The only other time they’ve had a stretch like this — one win in 12 games — came in their expansion season when they had a 14-game winless streak, part of a stretch where they had one win in 20 games.

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Wednesday

Cavalry FC vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

7:30 p.m., B.C. Place Stadium, TV: OneSoccer; Radio: TSN 1040 AM

The hope that surrounded the season with the introduction of Marc Dos Santos as coach has evaporated under the withering heat that four wins in 22 games will bring.

On Aug. 1, season-ticket holders will be emailed notification of the automatic renewal process. They will have until Sept. 14 to opt out of their seats.

Team officials are already bracing for a mass exodus of their annual base, and an informal social media poll would indicate the same. Just 22 per cent of nearly 800 respondents on Twitter said they would be renewing their tickets. Sixty per cent said ‘no’, with another 18 per cent saying they’d be either downsizing to a five-game pack or taking in an occasional game.