Crew SC is a .500 team with only one draw. Goodness, think about that for a second. The team is the definition of mediocrity to this point of the season. What will it be? That is the question.

The answer is somewhere amid the haze of midsummer.

The Crew emerged from a two-week Gold Cup break on Saturday night with a 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Union at Mapfre Stadium. A post-thunderstorm crowd of 17,418 was on hand. It wasn’t a full house, but it was a bigger gate than the Crew’s incoming season average — 14,139, which ranked 22nd and last in the league.

The Crew’s record, 10-10-1, says it all. It has invested heavily in center backs and has yet to see a payoff. It has of late added some flexibility to its formations in an effort to claw its way above the playoff line. To that end, this three-point night was important.

The Crew stepped over Orlando City and into sixth place in the Eastern Conference. It also beat a Philadelphia team (6-9-5) that needs to win, posthaste, to stay in the hunt. And the Crew did it with a formation that had three backs instead of two — and it was measurably successful. It won with a clean sheet.

It may not have been as artistically or statistically pleasing as their preferred 4-2-3-1, possess-and-attack system, but summer is getting on here and the team needs to explore different avenues to victory. Twenty-one games have flown past and 13 remain. Saturday marked the start of a busy stretch.

The Crew will have played five games in eight days by the end of the week. The next three are on the road — at Philadelphia, at Salt Lake, at San Jose. Can it steal some points away from home? We are about to find out.

Road wins are tasty. Road ties are medicinal. The Crew has been more prone to losing than tying when it gets down to the nitty-gritty. That is going to have to change.

The Crew will have played seven games in 32 days by the time FC Dallas comes and goes from Spanish Actuarial Stadium on Aug. 26.

In the middle of this stretch — on Aug. 9, to be exact — the international transfer window will close.

Reportedly, Crew coach and sporting director Gregg Berhalter has been active in the pursuit on an international player. He wants to add offense. He has a caveat: It has to be the “right fit.” He has the TAM and the GAM (shamalamadingdong) and, supposedly, the blessing of the owner. He can do something. Will he?

It’s in the haze.

There is something to the 3-4-2-1 the Crew deployed Saturday, for the fourth time this season. If not for a couple of terrible, late-game mistakes against Colorado, it would be 4-0 in these games. As it is, the Crew is 3-1.

The three-back set lends some comfort to center back Jonathan Mensah, a designated player who has had his problems. It makes good use of young center back Alex Crognale and it features the passing skills of defensive midfielder Wil Trapp. Although it takes something away from the attack — namely, the attacking midfielder (Federico Higuain, who rested a sore knee on Saturday) — it gives some artistic license to Justin Meram.

Meram was credited with the lone goal Saturday. It was his ninth of the season. That he does not have a roster spot among the MLS All-Stars is at least a misdemeanor.

The Crew, after 18 off days that included one friendly, can now define its season. It is right there. What will it be?

marace@dispatch.com

@MichaelArace1