After spending much of the past two years engaged in a game of “will they or won’t they,” with Major League Soccer, there appears to be a different buzz around Sacramento Republic FC this year — one that hasn’t been felt since the club’s inaugural season in 2014.

Talk to color commentator Kevin Goldthwaite and he’ll tell you that winning the championship in that first season was both the best and worst thing that the Republic could have done.

It was the best because of the massive amount of interest it generated in the sport and in the team, not to mention the aspect of winning the championship itself.

It was the worst, though, because it raised the expectations of the fans to an unreasonable level. Not only did the supporters expect to win again in 2015 and 2016, but some expected to be in MLS by this time as well.

That was never going to happen.

So with MLS Commissioner Don Garber dragging his feet on an expansion announcement for a market that he said is more of a “when, but not if” as far as snagging a slot in this country’s top division, the focus in 2017 appears to be all about the USL.

Last week at training, Republic head coach Paul Buckle casually mentioned developing players for MLS eventually, but for the first time in his nearly two-year tenure, the talk was about this team and these players.

Defender and original Republic player Emrah Klimenta was equally as excited about this year’s squad, saying, “We have a lot of talent in every position — not that we didn’t in the last few years, but we were short in some positions — as opposed to this year, where every single player can play at any given minute.”

The word from Buckle and Co. is that this may be the best Republic squad ever, even without the likes of the team’s best-ever player in Rodrigo Lopez and last year’s leading goal-scorer in Sacramento native Cameron Iwasa. (Both have moved on to different clubs.)

Thus far, the play from Sacramento has backed that idea up: two games, two wins, six goals scored, just one allowed.

The play up top is both solid and exciting, with USL Team of the Week selections Sammy Ochoa and Wilson Kneeshaw combining to keep Trinidad and Tobago international Trevin Caesar on the bench last weekend.

Though the defense appeared somewhat makeshift last week due to a lack of natural center backs available, Klimenta slotted in well with Puerto Rico international Jeremy Hall and mainstays James Kiffe and UC Davis alum Elliott Hord on the outside.

Captain Danny Barrera is dropping dimes from the midfield again.

Overall, there’s a lot to be excited about with this team and these players rather than looking toward any hypotheticals.

The bottom line is that we don’t know when Sacramento Republic FC will be in Major League Soccer. It may never even happen.

But a winning team is playing high-quality professional soccer locally. That’s more than we had five years ago.

— Evan Ream’s column publishes Wednesdays. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @EvanReam