TORONTO

Toronto FC is whatever you want it to be.

A top Eastern Conference club?

Absolutely. Not many teams will beat both Columbus and Seattle on the road this season.

An MLS minnow?

At times -- most notably in a 3-0 thumping at Salt Lake -- the Reds have looked completely out of sorts, never winning the possession battle and lacking creativity in its last two games.

Oh, they also have lost three of their past four games, with an impressive road showing at Crew Stadium sandwiched in the middle.

Best put, the Reds are making Mr. Edward Hyde seem mild-mannered at the moment.

Toronto FC has been everything from "not good enough" to "MLS Cup contenders" with a few stops in between.

Now, with the Reds set for a weekend off, it's time to take a step back and reflect on what head coach Ryan Nelsen rightly predicted would be a season full of highs and lows.

Entering a bye week, TFC remains .500 despite playing -- according to the table -- the most difficult early schedule league-wide, a massive boost seeing as the Reds host eight of their next 12 league fixtures.

And that's when any and all excuses finally will cease.

NEED A REMINDER?

Toronto FC was denied a penalty in Dallas last Saturday that should have produced what might have been a game-saving goal.

Gilberto, from at least one angle, went down after receiving a nudge in the back late in the match.

As of early this week, some TFC fans still hadn't move on, saying calls are consistently going against the Reds this season.

Looks like they forgot about the 50-50 decision that went TFC's way in Seattle earlier this season when defender Mark Bloom escaped punishment.

With the Reds up 2-0 on the road in Seattle, Bloom locked arms with Seattle's Lamar Neagle, who was in position inside the penalty area.

While Neagle went down easy in the 52nd minute, we've seen penalties given for much less in MLS.

Over the course of a season, the calls even out.

There's the evidence.

FANS SPIT VITRIOL

New York City FC is under fire after announcing plans to play in Yankee Stadium for at least three seasons.

The 2015 MLS expansion side made the announcement this week, drawing the ire of Major League Soccer fans from coast to coast.

My response: Maybe over-critical MLS fans should take some of that energy and hurl it at New England Revolution owner Robert Kraft, the multibillionaire who isn't the least bit interested in building a soccer-specific stadium somewhere in Boston.

Instead, the New England Patriots owner forces soccer fans to carpool out to Gillette Stadium every other week.

It's agonizing, really -- especially when you consider a 25,000-seat soccer stadium in Boston would be among the best atmospheres in the league. The Revolution once had the highest-average attendance in the league until they realized ownership didn't give a damn.

At least NYCFC -- co-owned by the Yankees and Manchester City -- is serious about building a new venue, the right venue, in New York City.

Instead of looking at the decision to play in Yankee Stadium as a step back, fans need to look five years down the road.

If all goes well, the New York Red Bulls will soon become the New York Islanders of MLS -- and that's a good thing.

ORLANDO CITY NEWS

Lost in all of the NYCFC hoopla is Orlando City's decision to play out the entire 2015 season inside Orlando's Citrus Bowl.

The 2015 expansion side made the announcement just before NYCFC stole the show, saying they have decided not to force the issue on a downtown soccer-specific stadium that is scheduled to be ready in time for the 2016 season.

"We remain hard at work alongside our partner the City of Orlando on all aspects of the project," Orlando City president Phil Rawlins said. "I am very confident saying that we remain fully on track to open our new stadium prior to the start of the 2016 MLS season and we will be announcing details for our new stadium ground-breaking ceremony later this year."

Until then, the 70,000-seat former World Cup venue will suffice.

The Citrus Bowl hosted Ireland-Mexico, Netherlands-Belgium, Morocco-Belgium, Netherlands-Morocco and Netherlands-Ireland during the 1994 World Cup in the U.S.

ODDS-MAKERS SAY

Bovada Sportsbook on Tuesday released its updated MLS Cup odds -- and it turns out they haven't been following Toronto FC all that closely.

The Reds, losers in three of their last four matches, saw their MLS Cup odds trickle down to 9-1 from an all-time high of 7-1 earlier this season.

It's clear odds-makers see TFC as a threat to venture deep into the playoffs if it stays healthy. But with TFC at 3-3-0 heading into a bye week, they would have to offer me substantially better odds at this point, especially when you consider Michael Bradley's imminent World Cup departure.

At 11-2, the L.A. Galaxy top the list, followed by Sporting KC (6-1), Seattle Sounders (13-2), Real Salt Lake (8-1) and FC Dallas, which sits level with TFC at 9-1.

Looking for an early-season sleeper? The Portland Timbers at 16-1 look appetizing. Had Bovada offered those odds before the season MLS fans would have been champing at the bit.

Currently five points outside the MLS playoff picture and without a win, the Timbers will find their legs at some point this summer.

Lowly Chivas USA remains bottom of the MLS Cup odds at 100-1.